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Evidence of Impact 2011

© Agriterra/Debby Gosselink

Evidence of Impact, 2011

Impact on living conditions of farmers through support to farmers’ organisations

AgriCord

M&E task team

June, 2011

Throughout this document, the term ‘farmers’ organisation’ is used as shorthand for a broad range of groups. It

covers the many types of association – including cooperatives, unions and rural women’s organisations – that

may be formed by producers, peasant farmers, smallholders and rural dwellers. The term also includes more

general associations concerned with commodities, politics and economic services, and covers too those in

emergent stages. The common thread is that their members are all involved in the land, whether in agriculture,

horticulture or forestry.

Agro-info.net (AIN) is an online database that covers all relevant aspects of the Farmers Fighting Poverty

programme. Information on each project is available with a description, targets, financing, approval process and

progress. This information can be accessed via www.agricord.org and guarantees transparency of the Farmers

Fighting Poverty process. In this report, projects are referenced by their AIN number.

Farmers’ organisations often have long names in the language of their home country. For simplicity, this report

refers to most of them by their acronyms. The full names can be found by looking on Agro-info.net under the

relevant project number.

Farmers’ organisations in different regions of the developing world

Farmers Fighting Poverty has been operating since 2007. Between 2007 and 2010, more than 180 farmers’

organisations in 61 developing countries have been supported in a framework of 487 projects at a cost of 120

million EUR.

Most (almost 80%) of these farmers’ organisations are national or sub-national. Fifteen per cent are local and

others are regional or sub-continental (ROPPA, EAFF, SACAU, AFA, ACCU, COPROFAM, etc.). Just over half of them

are located in Africa (mainly in East and West Africa), a quarter is in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the

rest is in Asia, Mediterranean and others (Moldavia, Kosovo, Ukraine, Armenia, etc.). In terms of volume of

activities, about 60% is in Africa, 16% in Latin America, 9% in Asia and the rest in Mediterranean and elsewhere.

Projects are based on long-term relationships between agri-agencies and farmers’ organisations. Contracts are,

where possible, multiannual.

Evidence of impact, 2011 | 1

Contents

Preface .......................................................................................................................... 2

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3

Overview ....................................................................................................................... 4

Improving competences of farmers’ organisations for collective action ............. 5

1: Farms as businesses .............................................................................................. 7 Competitive agricultural systems and enterprises - a new approach in West Africa ........................................... 7 Links to bigger markets – Brazil and Central America .......................................................................................... 9

2: Collective strength in the market ........................................................................ 10 Cooperative enterprises pool produce to share risks and benefits .................................................................... 10 Farmers in Benin try group-selling of cashew nuts (URPA-AD) .......................................................................... 10 Ugandan farmers set up agro-enterprises (MBADIFA) ....................................................................................... 11 A farmer’s story - a budding entrepreneur in Tanzania ...................................................................................... 11

3: Better food and income security ......................................................................... 12 Balanced diets in Uganda (HODFA)..................................................................................................................... 12 A farmer’s story - growing rice as a farming business, Uganda .......................................................................... 13 Cowpeas in Burkina Faso replace cotton (Unions of cowpea farmers of Pissila, Dablo and Pensa) ................... 14 A farmer’s story - a new life thanks to a new crop, Burkina Faso ....................................................................... 15

4: Introducing technical innovation ......................................................................... 17 Moroccan farmers improve wheat production .................................................................................................. 17 Madagascar sets up agricultural service centres ................................................................................................ 18 Learning by exchange (FIFATA) ........................................................................................................................... 18 Working through specialised service-providers (Guinea) ................................................................................... 19 Demonstration plots and model farms in Peru (CNA) ........................................................................................ 19 Cooperatives offer technical training to members ............................................................................................. 20 A farmer’s story - better rice cultivation in Vietnam (Câu Nhi Cooperative) ...................................................... 20 A farmer’s story - training for more efficient farming in Kenya (KENFAP) .......................................................... 21 A farmer’s story – advice from a private company improves onions in Niger (Yoreize Koira) ............................ 22

5: Practical financing of local agricultural innovation .......................................... 23 A farmer’s story - a small business loan in Cameroon (Teze Women’s Group) .................................................. 23 A farmer’s story - small loans, big improvements in Nepal (Chapagau SACCOS) ............................................... 24 A farmer’s story - learning to plan ahead in Laos (ACCU) ................................................................................... 24

6: Innovative approaches, new markets ................................................................. 26 A farmer’s story - eco-tea good for the environment and a Nepali farmer’s purse (Eco Tea Coop) ........................ 26

A farmer’s story - Organic mushrooms replace fishing after the 2004 tsunami, India (IEDS) ............................. 27 A farmer’s story - agro-tourism in Vietnam (VNFU)............................................................................................ 28 Albania develops agriculture with tourism (ADAD) ............................................................................................ 29 A farmer’s story - fair trade honey from Mexico (CAPIN) ................................................................................... 30

7: Sustainable agriculture ......................................................................................... 31 A seed drill for small-scale mechanization and animal traction ......................................................................... 31 Composting in the Philippines (FFF) ................................................................................................................... 31 Fighting erosion with terraces in Rwanda (IMPUYAKI) ....................................................................................... 32

8: Rising to challenges .............................................................................................. 33 Legal advice for farmers in Madagascar (AROPA) .............................................................................................. 33 A farmer’s story - marching for land and health, the Philippines ....................................................................... 33 Training leaders for the future (FORMAGRI) ...................................................................................................... 34 Farmers leaders trained in Congo (SYDIP) .......................................................................................................... 34 A farmer’s story - Sophie’s farm now thrives in Congo (UPDI) ........................................................................... 35 A farmer’s story - bringing women to the fore, India (IIMF) ............................................................................... 36

Annex: Inventory of evidence used in the report ............................................................ 38

2 | Evidence of impact, 2011

Preface

Increasing food production and striving to

eliminate rural poverty are at the

forefront of the work done by the agri-

agencies, mandated by national farmers’

organisations from Belgium, Canada

(Quebec), Finland, France, Italy, the

Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Farmers Fighting Poverty means farmer-

to-farmer cooperation. Its aim is to build

stronger farmers’ organisations in

developing countries, by connecting

directly with fellow farmers in other parts

of the world. It is based upon long-term

commitments, so AgriCord is grateful to

its donors for their consistent support to

this farmers’ effort.

Evidence of Impact 2011 is the third

report on the impacts of Farmers Fighting

Poverty. It provides evidence from

activities in 2010, and it presents some of

the ways in which the lives of farmers in

the developing world have been made

significantly less precarious. Earlier

reports, published in 2009 and 2010, are

available on request.

Monitoring and evaluation is carried out

by the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)

team of the AgriCord Project Committee.

The report was compiled and written by

Julie Harrod, with translation from French

and Spanish provided by Pauliina

Paananen. The team at AgriCord, with

Pekka Jämsén, coordinated the process of

compilation and writing.

This report shows how farmers’

organisations are becoming stronger and

how they encourage farming families in

the developing world to improve

cultivation practices, produce more food

and participate actively in the market

place. It endorses the Farmers Fighting

Poverty approach, and is an

encouragement to future support.

AgriCord is grateful to the leadership of

AFA (Asian Farmers Association), EAFF

(East African Farmers Federation), ROPPA

(Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et

de Producteurs Agricoles de l’Afrique de

l’Ouest) and SACAU (Southern African

Confederation of Agricultural Unions) for

their participation in the dialogue (06

October 2010) on the priorities of Farmers

Fighting Poverty.

27 June, 2011

Piet Vanthemsche

President

Ignace Coussement

Managing Director


Introduction

The developed world has recently been

bombarded with news stories and reports

about looming food shortages1. But the

subsistence farmers who are the majority

of the world’s poor need no reminding of

the daily challenges of growing enough to

live on.

A recent report by the International Fund

for Agricultural Development (IFAD) states

that feeding a projected population of

over 9 billion people by 2050 requires

developing countries to double the

amount of food they produce. 2 It also

points out that, since four out of five

people in rural areas of the developing

world engage in farming, smallholder

agriculture can offer a genuine way out of

poverty for vast numbers of people.

IFAD says there is a pressing need to

strengthen the collective capabilities of

rural people:

Membership-based organisations have a key

role to play in helping rural people reduce risk,

learn new techniques and skills, manage

individual and collective assets, and market

their produce. They also negotiate the

interests of people in their interactions with

the private sector or government, and can help

to hold them accountable. Many organisations

…represent the interests of poor rural people

better than any outside party can. They need

strengthening to become more effective, and

more space needs to be made for them to

influence policy.

IFAD’s report also stresses the need for

tailored solutions to suit the widely

differing needs of different countries and

farmers – an approach that Farmers

Fighting Poverty adopted from the outset.

1 The Economist (24 February 2011) A special report on

feeding the world: The 9 billion-people question ;

McKinsey Quarterly (April 2011) Four lessons for

transforming African Agriculture 2IFAD (2010) Rural Poverty Report 2011

Farmers Fighting Poverty supports

farmers’ organisations in many ways.

These are categorised for monitoring

purposes into four broad ‘work areas’.

There is naturally some overlap between

them, and a single project may well

incorporate more than one work area.

Indeed, almost all farmers’ organisations

will need significant support under work

area 1 before activities under the other

areas can take place.

Work Area 1: Organisational

strength and inclusiveness - supporting

farmers’ organisations to improve the way

they consult their members and

disseminate information, and to widen

their membership and improve

accountability.

Work Area 2: Institutional

development - helping farmers’

organisations to make vital connections to

public and private institutions.

Work Area 3: Policy elaboration and

advocacy - supporting farmers’

organisations to lobby effectively on

behalf of agriculture and rural

development, while ensuring that the

voice remains genuinely that of the

farmers themselves.

Work Area 4: Business development

- supporting farmers’ organisations to

envision, develop and undertake

economic initiatives of various types,

because such initiatives have a direct and

immediate impact on farmers’ incomes.

The cases that follow are presented

thematically, but work areas are provided

as a footnote in each case.


Overview

Farmers Fighting Poverty, established in

2007, operates as a fund managed by

AgriCord. It supports farmers’

organisations in the developing world,

based on a firm belief that it is only by

coming together in democratic groups

that smallholder farmers can break out

poverty. Evidence of Impact 2011 draws

material from many cases and reports

from projects operating under the

Farmers Fighting Poverty umbrella. The

contents were selected from more than

70 sources from over 30 countries in

Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe.

Most of the cases reported fall under

work areas 1, 2 and 4 (organisational

strength and inclusiveness; institutional

development; business development).

Work area 3 (policy elaboration and

advocacy) has fewer examples, but

section 8, Rising to challenges, includes

cases where farmers’ organisations have

successfully spoken out on behalf of their

members.

A wide range of interventions is

highlighted, showing that support is not

‘one-size-fits-all’ but is tailored to the

specific needs of each farmers’

organisation. Examples include crops from

cashew nuts to honey, and cowpeas to

onions. Many women tell of success.

There are signs that farm households are

benefiting from more balanced diets as a

result of growing different vegetables,

and are learning conservation techniques

so that produce can be stored over

traditional lean periods. Smallholders are

getting better yields by switching to crops

better suited to a fickle climate. Creative

new approaches, as highlighted in Impact

2010, are increasingly proving their worth.

And more farmers can access micro-credit

and markets than a year ago.

This year, the evidence cases are arranged

thematically. Looking first at business

development and markets, there are

clear cases from West Africa, Brazil,

Uganda and Tanzania that farmers’

organisations can help smallholders

become entrepreneurs rather than

subsistence farmers. Reaching the stage

of running competitive businesses takes

time, and there are other examples from

Burkina Faso and Morocco of

organisations at an earlier stage of

development. They are helping their

members to embrace the technical

changes needed to increase agricultural

production. This leads to better food

security and nutrition status of farming

families, who can also sell any surplus and

move towards entrepreneurship.

The mechanics of introducing change rely

on training, advice and mentoring through

farmer-to-farmer approaches, as

illustrated with various cases from

Madagascar, Guinea, Peru, Vietnam, Niger

and Kenya. The change process for

agricultural finance at local level is shown

by cases of micro-finance and savings

schemes in Cameroon, Nepal and Laos.

Innovation, which includes agro-tourism

and issues of fair trade, is becoming more

important. Cases are given from Nepal,

India, Vietnam, Albania and Mexico.

Improving sustainability of agriculture

despite increased pressure on land is

covered with cases from Morocco, the

Philippines and Rwanda.

Challenges facing farmers include land

rights and legal issues, a lack of trained

leaders for their organisations, and

gender disparities. Some of the responses

to these challenges are illustrated by

farmers from Madagascar, the Philippines,

the Democratic Republic of Congo and

India.


Improving competences of farmers’ organisations for collective action

Support to farmers’ organisations

addresses four broad ‘work areas’, and

the related ‘competences’ in each work

area.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

Work Area 1

Organisational strength and inclusiveness

Supporting farmers’ organisations to

improve the way they consult their

members and disseminate information,

and to widen their membership and

improve accountability.

Competences

1. Policies and strategies prepared with

members’ participation

2. Well-managed human resources and

adequate facilities

3. Sound and transparent financial

management

4. Democratic governance

5. Representativity and local membership

base

6. Empowerment of young people,

women and specific vulnerable groups

Work Area 2

Institutional development

Helping farmers’ organisations to make

vital connections to public and private

institutions.

Competences

7. External networks and partnerships

8. Formal alliances and agreements

COLLECTIVE ACTION

Work Area 3

Policy elaboration and advocacy


lobby effectively on behalf of agriculture

and rural development, while ensuring

that the voice remains genuinely that of

the farmers themselves.

Competences

9. Participatory policy formulation

10. Joint advocacy of family farmers on

food security

11. External communication

12. Policy positions in national strategies

Work Area 4

Business development


envision, develop and undertake

economic initiatives of various types,

because such initiatives have a direct and

immediate impact on farmers’ incomes.

Competences

13. Fair access to land, water, credit and

other resources

14. Access to inputs for agricultural

production

15. Processing and handling services

16. Improved product marketing

17. Development of farmer-led enterprises


This report presents examples of the

changes in the lives of farmers (women

and men) in the field and their families as

a result of collective action by stronger

farmers’ organisations.

Farmers’ organisations have been very

successful in produce deliverables in work

area 4: business development for

improved credit (deliverable 13), inputs

(14), processing (15), marketing (16) and

farmer-led enterprises (17).

Work area 3 (policy elaboration and

advocacy) has examples in section 8,

Rising to challenges, which includes cases

of farmers’ organisations that have been

able to effectively develop positions and

speak out on behalf of their members.

The cases that follow are presented

thematically, but work areas are provided

as a footnote in each case.

Annual profiling results are available for

52 farmers’ organisations that have been

profiled for three consecutive years

(2007, 2008 and 2009).

Consolidated results are given below for

2007-2009 in two indicators, the rate of

organisation and income diversification:

- the rate of organisation is the number of

individual members compared to the

potential target group

- the income diversification indicator

takes into account both the diversity of

income sources and the proportion of

income from own sources (e.g. member

fees).

Profiling indicators -

Stronger organisations

Goal

2007-

2010

Actual

2007-

2009

% change in rate of

organisation

2% 37%

% change in income

diversification

7% 23%


1: Farms as businesses

Founded on the strong belief that

smallholder farmers in the developing

world can step out of poverty through

their own efforts rather than as a result of

handouts, Farmers Fighting Poverty works

with farmers’ organisations to engender a

sense of self-help and independence.

Producing enough from the land to sell as

well as subsist on is crucial to success, so

technical improvements in cultivation

techniques need to be devised and

disseminated. Once there are surpluses for

sale, small farmers will benefit from the

greater negotiating strength and bigger

volumes offered for sale by a group.

Competitive agricultural systems and

enterprises - a new approach in West

Africa

The Strategic Alliance for Agricultural

Development in Africa (SAADA)

programme aims to improve the

livelihoods of a million farm households in

seven countries in West Africa using the

Competitive Agricultural Systems and

Enterprises (CASE) approach.3 The

programme focused on a particular

product in each country – rice in Benin,

maize in Burkina Faso, fish in Ghana, soya

beans in Mali, milk in Niger, sorghum in

Nigeria and groundnuts in Togo.

The approach was developed over several

years and it brings together Integrated Soil

Fertility Management (ISFM) – either

rotating crops, or combining mineral

fertilizers with locally available organic

material to replenish soil nutrients and

improve the efficiency of fertilizers and

other inputs – with improved conditions

for competitive commodity chain

development. The CASE approach is based

on the belief that such competitive

commodity chains can only develop when

actors collaborate to mutual benefit.

3 Work Areas 1 & 4

A recent evaluation of the SAADA

programme found that the CASE approach

had contributed to a change in attitude in

over 200 ‘clusters’ of stakeholders

(including farmers, traders, bankers, local

entrepreneurs and people offering

business development services). Farmers

were increasingly able to recognise

business opportunities and take collective

action, and it was reported that the

programme had created an important

sense of ownership within farmers’

organisations.4

Under the programme, farmers’

organisations had been trained how to

work more effectively for their members

in areas such as collective marketing,

negotiation, and advocacy and lobbying.

The stronger organisations clearly

attracted more members – membership

was up by an average of 64% across the

seven countries. Even though the increase

could not be fully attributed to the

programme, ‘it indicates the allure of

these organisations to ungrouped

farmers.’

Positive impacts were seen in increased

agricultural productivity and income

growth, although the target of reaching a

million households has not yet been met.

Farmers now know much more about the

importance of agricultural inputs, and they

have learnt a lot about new production

technologies and how to manage the soil.

4 Alidou, M., Lem, M., Schrader, T. and de Zeeuw, F.

(September 2010) Local entrepreneurship, agribusiness

cluster formation and the development of competitive

value chains – Evaluation of the SAADA programme 2006-

2009.


Farmers recognise the power of having

more knowledge:

“We just spent 2 years with the project, and

farmers are already developing the reflex to

find buyers before producing - they say, ‘Let’s

find the market first,’ ‘Let’s contract,’ ‘Let’s sell

it together,’ etc. Before, they just produced and

waited for hypothetic buyers. So we can

conclude that we are now moving progressively

towards value chains.”

Togolese farmer

“Today illiterate farmers are behaving as

specialists because we’ve been trained on new

production and management methods. And we

learnt that it’s better to produce less and be

able to look after it, instead of increasing and

not being able to care. We learnt how to

negotiate with partners.”

Beninese farmer

“I have learnt to keep records. It was not easy

to structurally register my expenditures and

revenues, but the business support services

helped me to do so by coming by every week.

After a while I had more awareness of my

business. While I had thought that I was

getting a good price for my rice, it turned out

that I was producing at a loss. This was the

actual gain of the training. Now I am doing

things differently.”

Nigerian farmer

They have learned to see problems as

opportunities, which translate into new

requirements for capacity development.

These have included mechanization,

conservation and storage techniques,

processing, contract farming, business

plans and how to approach banks for

loans, as well as collaboration with agro-

industry.

Producers involved in SAADA activities

have seen their income increase

significantly, with an average increase of

almost 150% reported. The income gains

were the result of higher productivity,

better quality of product and good prices.

Certain activities – collective marketing,

price negotiations, product development,

processing, storage, and warehouse

receipt systems - had been particularly

useful. External factors were important, of

course, not least the fact that commodity

prices rose. But farmers had to pay more

for fertilizer and other inputs, so the rise in

income was not caused only by a rise in

market price.

Better food security does not necessarily

follow automatically from increased

agricultural production, but they are

certainly related – apart from having more

home-grown food available, families can

sell surpluses to buy different types of

food and other necessities. Case studies

suggested that households have seen

positive effects on their livelihoods. In

Benin, rice has become a daily food rather

than a holiday treat; in Burkina Faso,

people have a secure supply of food

(maize) throughout the year with no

hungry gaps, and people are better able to

pay for health care and school fees. Fish

farmers in Ghana now eat more fish and

so have a better diet. Soya bean has

become a more popular crop for farmers

in Mali – although it fetches a lower price

than cowpea, soya is easier to grow and

can therefore be relied upon for a steady

income. In Niger, turning surplus milk into

cheese creates a higher value product

which is sold to improve livelihoods.

Productivity of sorghum in Nigeria has

increased significantly, as has the area

under cultivation, and in Togo groundnut

production has gone up.5

Overall, the evaluation found that SAADA

had brought important spin-off effects and

was likely to continue to do so. It pointed

out that impacts were more likely to be

felt by better-off male producers but that

women and smaller farmers had also

benefited. Many results will be felt beyond

the evaluation period simply because of

the time taken for change and capacity

building to become established. But

concrete examples were already seen,

such as farmers in Benin being able to pay

for school fees, send money and food to

children studying far from home, and deal

with hardship periods. Women had been

able to buy kitchen equipment and some

5

Groundnuts are not generally eaten by the household but

are sold to generate income.


families had bought a motor bike or car.

Others had opened bank accounts. In

Burkina Faso, the CASE approach is being

considered by Oxfam for integrating into

their future interventions. A poultry

cluster and a maize cluster want to link up,

and soil fertility techniques are being

adopted by farmers who are not cluster

members.

A final thought from this evaluation was

the observation that although business

training was important, farmers needed to

have sound technical knowledge – to

improve their productivity in a sustainable

way - before business training could be

useful.

Links to bigger markets – Brazil and

Central America

A project in Brazil is part of a worldwide

programme, Linking-up: local economic

development in a global world. Support for

projects that strengthen family farms has

been ongoing for more than twenty years

in Southern Brazil. This used to be

channelled via NGOs, but Trias now works

directly with farmers’ organisations.

The goal is to achieve socio-economic

security for 60,000 farmers in rural Parana

via five specific objectives.6 Improving the

democratic governance of the partner

farmers’ organisations is a key part of the

support, and flowing from this is an

increased level of business professionalism

within the organisations and their

members.

A mid-term evaluation of the project found

many more cooperative societies under the

umbrella of UNICAFES, ANCOSOL and

UNICAFES-PR, and their financial reserves

have increased. Opportunities to sell

produce on the institutional market have

increased – for instance the national school

of nutrition tries to buy at least 30% of its

food from family farms. Better market

opportunities have in turn encouraged

growers to diversify, and household

incomes have increased. The cooperatives

are achieving better production quality and

6 Trias, Work Areas 1, 2 & 4

are developing capacity towards

industrialization of food processing, which

should offer the chance for more economic

gain.

Access to financial services has increased,

notably for women, and more people

(women and men) are accessing business

services. Ninety-two women were trained

as farmers’ organisation leaders and 40

women’s groups were set up as a result of

wide-ranging gender activities.

Under the same global programme is a

project to support various farmers’

organisations in Central America

(Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador).7 It

had a focus on activities to improve farm-

related enterprises by offering services

related to production (cutting costs,

improving quality, diversification) and

business and market development. Micro-

finance was organised by various partner

organisations.

More than 10,000 people benefited from

the project, with over 2,000 men and

more than 2,600 women accessing micro-

finance. The loans were used for various

purposes – agricultural equipment,

improvements to irrigation systems, and

buying and legalizing land holdings. Areas

under cultivation increased, sometimes by

large proportions. For instance, the area

devoted to maize increased by 38%, to

coffee by 26%, with smaller increases

recorded for a range of other crops

(cardamom, vegetables and sugar cane).

Higher productivity of agriculture (up 34%

per year) and better sales by farm business

groups lead to increased incomes, and in

turn better living standards for farmers

and people involved with small businesses

related to agriculture.

Farmers were better able to negotiate

prices through partnerships, especially the

growers of coffee, cardamom and milk.

Groups that had formed a network found

they had even more negotiating power,

and contracts were signed at local and (in

the case of coffee) international level.

7 Trias, Work Areas 1, 2 & 4


2: Collective strength in the market

Liberalised markets have concentrated

trade within commodity chains, especially in

the food sector. Small farmers have to find

solutions to their disadvantages in the

market place. They produce small volumes

of variable quality produce, they often lack

up-to-date information on market prices

and demand, and they do not have links to

large buyers. However, as part of a farmers’

organisation, an individual can benefit from

collective marketing and economies of

scale. Smallholders can become stronger

players in the commodity chain and capture

more of the value added.

Cooperative enterprises pool produce to

share risks and benefits

As part of Farmers Fighting Poverty, the

Market-based Agricultural Development

through Farmers’ Cooperatives programme

encompasses 13 projects in 10 African

countries.8 Support is channelled through

seven agri-agencies via AgriCord. It is

planned that up to 45,000 households

(270,000 people) will benefit. The

programme targets organisations that are

membership-based and democratically

managed, as trust and social cohesion are

vital where produce is to be pooled and sold

collectively. Poorer farmers may make

smaller gains from institutional marketing

services than larger members, but the

overall benefits are believed to outweigh

this risk.

A recent evaluation report on the

programme found that the concept of joint

marketing by members of farmers’

organisation was relevant and has been put

into place in Benin and for some food crops

in Uganda (see below).9 Even farmers with

few assets, such as a small plot of cashew

8 Work Areas 1 & 4

9 SIDA/ Swedish Cooperative Centre/AgriCord

(February/March 2010) Draft report by mid-term review

mission on the Market-Based Agricultural Development

through Farmers’ Cooperative Business Programme

2007/8-2010/11

trees or some clumps of banana plants,

were able to benefit from better marketing

of their produce.

Farmers in Benin try group-selling of

cashew nuts (URPA-AD)

In the North and West of Benin, some

36,000 cashew nut growers have plots of 1-

5ha and grow between them 5,500-6,000

tonnes of unprocessed nuts every year. The

regional growers’ union represents 13

district unions and about 300 village coops.

Total membership is about 3,500 (about

10% of all cashew growers), mainly from

poorer levels of society. The union had

already begun to collect and market

members’ output jointly and sales were 550

tonnes in 2008 when the project started.10

As cashew trees grow better without

competition from weeds, grass cutters to

mow between the trees were procured.

Scales were also obtained, so that the nuts

could be weighed accurately before sale.

Another step towards boosting members’

competitiveness was providing improved

cashew seedlings (12,000 plants on 1,000

hectares in 2009). The improved varieties

should give nuts of better quality, which can

then be sold in more demanding markets.

There was no spending on dedicated

storage facilities, as the unions and coops

used local village halls and other protected

spaces to hold nuts until they were

collected by the buyer.

URPA management was trained to analyse

markets and negotiate business deals,

after which they were able to strike a deal

with an institutional buyer at 20% above

the local market price, with the buyer

paying in advance for the nuts and the

cost of collection. Two-thirds of the extra

income went to the producers, with the

rest split between the village association,

the district association and the regional

10

AIN 5163, Afdi, Work Areas 1, 2 & 4


union. This division of the spoils had been

formulated during training sessions and

was accepted by all parties.

Ugandan farmers set up agro-enterprises

(MBADIFA)

Smallholders in the Mbarara District of

Uganda have until now depended largely

on subsistence agriculture. Parts of the

district suffer from a shortage of land and

a lack of storage facilities for food crops,

and in some places there are severe

periodic food shortages. A project to

improve food and nutrition security has

shown good results, with 70% of the

target 3,000 households adopting basic

soil conservation practices.11

Through

farmer field schools and demonstrations,

the effects of adding manure to improve

fertility and mulching for water

conservation were clearly visible and

farmers were keen to try them on their

own plots. The quality of bananas in

particular improved, as a result of adding

manure to the soil and planting them at

the correct spacing.

As well as focusing on food security, the

project also offered training for farmer’s

organisations to improve the way they

functioned. Once they had the required

structures in place (a constitution, proper

record-keeping etc), organisations were

supported to choose an enterprise for

collective marketing and then develop a

business plan. Sixty-four groups made links

with specific buyers, and 38 groups were

active in collective marketing. Seventy-eight

groups increased yields (mainly of banana

but also millet and beans), had a higher

sales volume and made more profit.

Although the average number of bunches of

bananas sold increased by only 40%,

average profits more than doubled, because

the bunches were bigger and group

negotiations resulted in better prices. Most

farmers saw their profits increase by at

least 50%. Some farmers were able to buy

mobile phones, build permanent houses or

send their children to better schools.

11

AIN 5138, Trias, Work Areas 1, 2 & 4

A farmer’s story - a budding entrepreneur

in Tanzania

Mrs. Tatu Jala was a poor woman suffering

with her family without proper food and

basic necessities. Her family was involved in

farming, but they used outdated methods

which gave poor results. She was driven to

take loans from the money lenders, which

caused problems in her family. Her hard-

earned income from farming was only

enough to pay the interest to the money

lenders. Lacking knowledge of up-to-date

farming techniques, her family was not able

to produce better yields although the land

was fertile. Relief came in the form of the

Daughters of Mary Immaculate sisters (DMI),

who organised women into self help groups.

Mrs. Tatu Jala became a member of her

local group. The Trust of DMI also set up a

project to help the women increase their

income through collective farming. Mrs. Jala

was one of the beneficiaries who learned

new cultivation, collective farming and

marketing techniques.12

Mrs. Jala learned about the importance of

using natural fertilizers and cultivating

seasonal and rotational crops to maintain

the fertility of the soils. Along with other

women in her neighbourhood, she started

growing different types of vegetable. New

farming techniques enabled them to triple

their crop yield so there was a surplus to

sell in the market for a reasonable price.

She said, "Earlier the middlemen bought my

produce for a pittance, today I am

empowered to sell them on my own".

She started saving regularly and has repaid

all her debts. She was able to build a new

house with hollow blocks and to feed and

educate her children. She now has a small

poultry business too. By selling the chickens

and eggs, she earned additional income for

her family. She proudly says "I have climbed

the social ladder and it is through me that

our family's income has increased and that

our children's future has changed

dramatically.

12

AIN 5260, Agriterra, Work Areas 1 & 4


3: Better food and income security

Farmers’ organisations can make a

significant difference to the lives of their

members by helping them towards more

secure livelihoods. Through various

development approaches such as

Participatory Agricultural Enterprise

Development (PAED), smallholder farmers

can learn techniques to improve the

productivity of their plots, to grow a

variety of crops for a more balanced diet,

or to cultivate new crops better adapted

to changing weather conditions. Once

their food supply for the family is assured,

they can move towards commercial

production. Livelihood and business risks

can be reduced by integrating local

savings and credit services close to the

farmers.

Balanced diets in Uganda (HODFA)

Improving the food and income security

of smallholder farm households in Hoima

District in a sustainable way was the

objective of this project.13

The Hoima

District Farmers’ Association (HODFA) has

been using the Participatory Agro-

Enterprise Development (PAED) approach,

which allows the organisation and its

members to systematically plan,

implement, monitor and evaluate project

activities together.

Targeting the ‘active poor’ – households

who exist at around subsistence level,

have an insecure income and food supply,

and who know little about organised

markets – it was important to use local

languages. Training centres were spread

widely so that farmers did not have to

travel too far to attend training courses.

And HODFA collaborated with local

councils at different levels to make sure

that as many farmers as possible were

13

AIN 5139, Trias, Work Areas 1, 2 & 4

mobilised. So far the project and has

reached more than 3,500 households.

Almost 1,900 households will have

accessed microfinance services from

HOKOFAM (the microfinance partner) by

the end of the project. More than 200

farmer agro-enterprise groups have been

formed.

Before the project started, most of the

target households were growing food for

home consumption only and did not view

crops as having the potential to generate

income. Now, households are now

growing a wider range of foodstuffs that

give them full and balanced nutrition

throughout the year. They have learned

better cooking methods that preserve the

nutritional value of food – for instance

steaming rather than frying, and not

peeling some items such as sweet potato.

Post-harvest handling of crops has been

improved, for instance by the simple but

effective use of tarpaulins to cover the

ground and keep produce clean while it is

being dried. Food conservation methods

for the lean months are now widely used.

Wood-saving stoves are becoming more

common and home environments are

cleaner with drying racks and hand-

washing facilities.

“I have increased knowledge and skills in

farming”

“I am a widow, but ever since I joined Trias,

my incomes have increased and I can pay

school fees for my grand children”

“I have increased knowledge on pest and

disease control”

“I can now feed my family and buy some

clothes; am no longer afraid to go to

functions”

“Non-participating farmers come and ask us

for vegetables”

“We eat well; children are no longer falling

sick”

Quotes from farmers

HODFA 2008-2010 progress report


The two hundred-odd agro-enterprises

developed under the project have

reached different stages. Many have

developed business plans and 194 were

able to collectively sell value-added

products beyond the farm gate. Linking

with a specific buyer was more difficult, as

it requires contracts to be drawn up

between buyers and the group, but

several binding agreements have been

made with local seed companies (Afrokai,

East African Seed Co., Nalweyo Seed Co.

etc).

Enterprises chosen by the groups showed

an increase in production stemming from

better productivity and larger acreage.

Rice yields went up 114%, from 0.7 tonnes

per acre in 2008 to 1.5 tonnes in 2010.

Maize yields too were 58% higher (from

1.2 tonnes per acre to 1.9 tonnes).

Farmers were literally reaping the

benefits of better agronomic practices

such as early planting (in lines rather than

randomly), timely weeding, planting on

virgin land and improved seed varieties.

With financial services available from

HOKOFAM, farmers were able to take out

loans to open up more land or rent from

their neighbours. Average plot sizes went

up from 0.3 to 1.5 acres for rice and from

0.7 to 1.5 acres for maize.

Thirty lead farmers have been trained as

extension facilitators to take over the

tasks of HODFA advisors – running farmer

field schools and mentoring farmer

groups in how to keep records and how to

follow the steps of PAED. Seven

secondary-level associations were formed

(these should eventually form cooperative

societies) which should be able to access

bigger markets for members’ produce.

A farmer’s story - growing rice as a

farming business, Uganda

“I am Kyosaba Abigairi, from Kitoba sub

county Hoima District. I am a member of

Hoima District Farmers’ Association.14

I

studied up to primary six level. I am

married, with children. We live in a mud

and wattle house. I have been doing

farming but on a subsistence level. I grow

food crops like cassava, sweet potatoes,

groundnuts and beans.

“I have been growing rice on about half an

acre with a yield of 200kg per season and

selling at the farm gate. In 2008 HODFA

introduced us to a new program called

Participatory Agro-Enterprise

Development, a programme that involved

us from enterprise planning to marketing.

I discussed it with my husband and agreed

to join the programme. I registered with a

group called Twesigangane Kisonde in

May 2008. By first season of 2009, we had

gone through all the PAED steps, where

rice and maize were selected as income

enterprises.

“Using the farmer field school approach,

we had a demonstration on how to plant

rice. Before the PAED programme, we

would plant rice in any way, at a seed rate

of 60kg/acre and not in lines. But with the

trainings from our facilitators from

HODFA, I learnt to plant in lines, using

only 30kg/acre.

“At germination, it seemed less in the

field, and the neighbours who were not

participating laughed at me with funny

comments, like “You wasted your time

and adopted the wrong advice from your

facilitators”. At weeding time, my rice had

grown taller and smart in lines with the

field full and no more gaps compared to

those of my neighbours. They thought I

had done gap filling.

“In the field of 0.8 acre, I harvested

1,500kg. I pooled my produce with my

fellow group members: we milled and

sold to Buganda traders at USh1,300

(about 40 euro cents) per kg. I was able to

earn USh 1,267,500 (about 360 euro)

14

Work Areas 1, 2 & 4


from the sale of rice only. With this

money, we have started a new house of

bricks, which is now at wall plate stage,

bought a cow which will be giving us milk

for home consumption and sold for

money.

“In season two of 2010, we got a loan

from HOFOKAM to increase our acreage

from 0.8 to one acre. We grew rice for

East African Seed Company and harvested

1,800kg. From the sales of this rice, I am

sure we are going to finish our house.

“In this programme also, we were

sensitized on conserving the environment

whereby we were trained and

demonstrated on fuel saving stoves. In my

local kitchen, I constructed a fuel saving

stove which has helped me a lot on the

saving of firewood used. On average a

bundle of firewood would take less than a

week, but now it goes for two weeks and

above. It also saves my time because I

light it and put two saucepans at a go.”

Cowpeas in Burkina Faso replace cotton

(Unions of cowpea farmers of Pissila,

Dablo and Pensa)

Rainfall in Sanmatenga Province in

Burkina Faso has become irregular and

the traditional cash crop, cotton, has been

abandoned because it fails without

sufficient water. As an alternative,

cowpea is ideal - new varieties mature in

70 days and need only 370mm of rainfall.

Being a legume, cowpea fixes nitrogen in

the soil, improving it for the next crop.

Other plus points are that it is easy to

store, there is market demand for it and it

fits well into the rotation of local farming

systems. Finally, it is a nutritious food

crop that brings protein to the local diet.

A project to develop the cowpea sector in

the province has been running since 2008

(continuing activities started in 2004),

with the beneficiaries being mostly small

farmers, all of whom are members of

cowpea producers’ unions.15

More than

half of the members of the cowpea

producers’ unions are women. Activities

are implemented at the level of farmers’

organisation and department union. They

are based on four themes – support to

producers on technical and economic

aspects of the crop, support for

conservation, storage and marketing,

improved access to financial services and

capacity building of the internal

management of farmer groups and

higher-level unions.

Training has been given on cultivation

techniques. This includes using improved

seed varieties and taking better control of

the land with optimum sowing and

weeding times, and methods of applying

fertilizer. Demonstration plots were set

up in 26 villages to show the new cowpea

(and sorghum) varieties. Learning how to

recognise insect pests and good spraying

techniques means farmers are now able

to respond to infestations in good time to

prevent serious losses. Post-harvest losses

are reduced by drying the cowpeas

thoroughly and storing them in three-

layered bags.

Results were monitored and new

techniques spread by means of a network

of 96 ‘experimental farmers’ (both

women and men) who were trained by

the project team to record all their costs

and income so that gross margins could

be calculated. These farmers also act as

conduits for knowledge transfer to their

fellow farmers, sharing the skills they

acquired during training and monitoring

them during the growing season.

Interestingly, the women managed to

obtain yields comparable to those of men,

despite being spending less on inputs. It is

suggested that the women compensate

for the lack of financial resources by

spending more time on their (smaller)

plots.

15

AIN 5072, FERT, Work Areas 1, 2 & 4


The overall area under cultivation with

cowpea increased from 607 to 715ha and

the average yield from 600 to 780kg/ha

between 2009 and 2010. This year’s

success is partly due to good rains, which

cannot be guaranteed in future. But

better cultivation also played a part - the

experimental farmers’ yields increased by

47% (compared to a 27% increase for the

other farmers), showing that their greater

technical expertise allowed them to take

advantage of the rainfall. Another

contributing factor to success has been

the availability of credit, as farmers have

learned how to apply for loans and banks

understand better the needs of

agriculture. Finally, the government has

launched a pilot scheme to support

inputs.

“Soil fertility of the plots has improved

sustainably and permanently during project

actions.”

“The food ration of the beneficiaries, especially

the most vulnerable; children, elderly,

pregnant women, has improved from the

second year of action.''

Opinions of producers

A farmer’s story - a new life thanks to a

new crop, Burkina Faso

Mr. Soré Nongma is a producer in the

village of Solomnoré in Pissila. He is a

member of a cowpea group called

Wendlamita. He has four wives and he is a

father of 13 children. One of his daughters

is married and his eldest son went to Côte

d'Ivoire. Of the eleven children who still

live at home, four are old enough to help

with farm work. In 2010, he has grown

4ha of sorghum with cowpea and 3ha of

pure cowpea. Sorghum is for family

consumption and is never sold, but the

cowpea is a cash crop and is the main

source of income for the family.

Before he began growing cowpeas seven

years ago, Mr. Soré could not feed his

family or educate his children. He was

then obliged to sell livestock each year to

buy food and his flock never prospered. In

addition, he didn’t have the equipment,

plough or a donkey, so he cultivated by

hand using a local hoe. During one of his

trips to Djibo, Mr. Soré discovered the

culture of pure cowpea and decided to try

it on a small area of 0.25ha; he was the

only one in the village doing it. Other

producers observed him and were

convinced: after a few seasons, they

started to do the same. They have all

gradually increased their production area

of pure cowpea, and Mr. Soré has

increased his production area from 0.25

to 3ha over two years.

The move towards cowpea started by Mr.

Soré was strengthened by the arrival of

Cowpea Project 2 and the activities

developed by the Departmental Union of

Producers of Cowpea Pissila (UDPNP), of

which M. Soré’s group is a member.16

The

group got a sprayer that allows producers

to treat cowpeas, which they could not do

before. Producers received technical

guidance by a facilitator during the

project. They learned to sow seed in lines,

how to apply mineral and organic

fertilizer, improved varieties and how to

recognise pests.

New techniques are shared better now

that Mr. Soré has become a pilot

producer: he gets training and transmits it

to the members of his group; he also visits

their plots and advises other farmers. He

records his farming activities and

expenditures, analyses the results and

presents them to the rest of the group.

Since 2009, producers have been storing

their harvested cowpeas in a collective

storehouse and selling it at a better price.

In 2009, the group received three bags of

cement to repair the store and in 2010

they got a door, gate and lock to make the

building more secure.

16

AIN 5072, FERT, Work Areas 1, 2 & 4


Mr. Soré now has a new strategy: he sows

one part of his fields early to harvest in

September when prices are high: in 2009

he sold nine sacks at 33,000 CFA (about

50 euro) and 22 sacks at same price in

2010. A month later, at the peak of

harvest, the price had almost halved, to

18,000 CFA.

The rest of the harvest (late sowing and

local variety) is stored and then sold

through the Union (in 2009, a sack was

sold at 27,500 CFA – about 42 euro). A

part of the money obtained is reinvested

in the inputs of the following year. His

wives also grow cowpeas (0.25ha each) in

addition to peanuts, sorghum and maize.

But since cowpea production is more

profitable than others, it is an ever more

important in their rotation.

Since he started the pure cowpea

production, Mr. Soré has bought bulls,

two ploughs and a donkey, reinvested in

field inputs, re-roofed his wives’ houses,

paid school fees for his children,

maintained their social network and met

the needs of his family. His latest

purchase is a motorcycle. His flock has

grown too, since he is no longer obliged to

sell the animals each year to cover the

spending. Today, he has 16 goats, 14

sheep as well as poultry on his farm. He

has also been able to meet his

responsibilities as a tribal chief.

Empowered by the success, Mr. Soré

wants now to enlarge the cultivation area.

His son - who lived in Côte d'Ivoire -

should return next January to work with

him. In addition to the cowpea, and

thanks to the training received on

sorghum and improved varieties tested in

his plots, he also envisages a gradual

transition from local to improved

varieties. To do this, he will increase the

surfaces of his test plots each year during

three years before choosing the variety of

sorghum that suits him best.

He is also building a house to Pissila city.

The plot is already acquired. He is the

newly elected president of his group and

wishes to further strengthen the

capacities of other members of the group

and make every effort to ensure that his

group is engine of the Union, so that it

can offer more services to the members.


4: Introducing technical innovation

Technical innovation is vital if smallholder

farmers are to see the increase in yields

that are necessary to feed a growing

population. Correct use of fertilizers, pest

and disease control and better growing

techniques (zero tillage, conservation

farming, irrigation etc) all have their part

to play. And making the most of scarce

resources without degrading the

environment takes skill and knowledge.

Farmer-to-farmer approaches are

effective for practical adoption of

innovative practices. Projects under

Farmers Fighting Poverty introduce

effective ways of bringing farmers

together to share experience and best

practice, some of which are highlighted

below.

Moroccan farmers improve wheat

production

Until recently, most cooperative societies

in Morocco were milk producing unions –

small coops dealing with wheat

production and marketing were almost

non-existent. Following a government

decision to liberalise the Moroccan grain

market and reorganise the national grain

industry, Moroccan farmers needed to

adapt to these changes. A two-year

project to promote a cooperative

approach to better wheat growing has

seen some positive results.17

Study trips to France for representatives

of farmers’ groups and specialist input

from French technicians, together with

six-month internships in Settat (one of the

project’s three areas) for two agricultural

students from Paris, were some of the

means by which new methods were

introduced to Morocco. The three project

areas, Settat, Khenifra and Meknes, saw

17

FERT, Work Areas 1 & 2

slightly different activities but in all areas

experimental plots were set up to test

cultivation techniques, sowing density and

different wheat varieties. Establishing

best practice in a particular environment

is vital to keep costs down and maximise

yields.

It was found that direct drilling was

effective and compared well with

conventional techniques such as using a

chisel plough or broadcasting seed. The

trial plots of direct drilling in Khenifra

showed that it was possible to halve

establishment costs and save three-

quarters of the working time needed for

conventional cultivation.

Wheat sown at lower density made many

side shoots (tillers) and gave a good

population of ears Proper agricultural

practice (correct fertilizer use – or

planting after a leguminous crop - and

pest control etc) improved the quality of

the harvest. It was found that correct use

of nitrogen in particular was cheaper and

gave better results. Storing the grain in

sealed bags preserved its qualities and

prevented insect damage.

Baking qualities - whether it has a high

gluten content and is therefore suited to

bread-making, for instance – affect the

price of wheat. Experiments established

which wheat varieties and growing regime

gave the highest value, so that farmers

could maximise their income. Correct

doses of nitrogen were found to improve

baking quality.

A prototype winnowing machine to clean

wheat after harvesting was also designed

and tested, so coops can now clean their

wheat to a higher standard than is

possible with hand-winnowing.


Madagascar sets up agricultural service

centres

With the support of two partners, this

project has set up Agricultural Service

Centres (CSAs) at district level to bring

farming services closer to the farmers that

need them.18

Before the centres were

established, it was difficult for farmers in

remote areas to access services related to

agriculture, livestock and fisheries. The

centres also received some government

funding to provide public services.

At the time of the first project evaluation,

when the CSAs had only been running for

less than a year, 11-15% of the population

had already benefited from them. A later

evaluation found that the majority of

requests made to service centres

concerned the need for either training or

agricultural inputs. Overall, the centres

were judged to be good tools to improve

agriculture, particularly in they way they

could coordinate and direct technical and

financial assistance. They had built good

relations between farmers, between

farmers and service providers, and

between different service providers.

Some farmers remained dissatisfied,

though:

"Training is good, but it is still necessary to

have the means to put in action what we have

learned.”

"We know now how the vaccine animals, but

have no means of procuring vaccines.”

"I was trained to improve rice production, but

how to finance the inputs (improved seeds and

fertilizers)?”

Learning by exchange (FIFATA)

A project in Madagascar looked at

exchange visits as a tool for development,

based on experiences in three regions of

the country.19

An exchange visit usually

consists of a meeting between the host

18

AIN 5343, FERT and Afdi, Work Areas 1 & 2 19

FERT, Work Area 1

and representatives of one or more

farmers’ organisations. The meeting will

cover a specific theme and include a

theoretical presentation as well as

practical sessions. There is also a

mechanism for sharing information with

those who did not make the visit but

would be interested in the information.

Many positive effects have been seen

following exchange visits, including changes

in the practices used on family farms. The

visit itself can revitalise a flagging farmers’

organisation, providing new ideas and

motivation for farmers. Farmers see

concrete examples of success, such as the

effects of technical or management

decisions, and 90% of them said they were

satisfied with the exchange. The host

(whether an organisation or a ‘model’

farmer) is encouraged to present itself to

best advantage, so makes extra efforts

towards success. And the visitors exchange

views on the journey home as well as during

the visit itself. Finally, visits to an unfamiliar

place can show farmers new and

unexpected ideas.

"The hosting of exchange visits required

farmers’ organisations to take very good care

of their farms. It is a matter of honour!"

“A month after an exchange visit to the chicken

farming in Talata Gasy Ampano in July 2010, the

Miaramandroso farmers’ organisation has

established a common chicken farm to

demonstrate to members and other local people

the benefits of improved techniques of farming.”

"It is an opportunity to buy onion seeds

directly from the producer with a good price,"

says a farmer from Ambinaniroa (High

Matsiatra) who bought seeds from Betroka

(Ihorombe) during an exchange visit.

"The exchange visit to the improved pig

rearing farm in June 2010 at Antsirabe

allowed us also to attend the national fair of

agricultural machinery."

"The exchange visit to Anjoma Itsara enabled

us to discover a new plant which is very useful

in the making of compost.”

"At the end of each exchange visit, there are

always debates or discussions at night and

even during the return journey.”

Comments from exchange farmers


Working through specialised service-

providers (Guinea)

A large-scale project to support local

economic development and defend local

interests in Guinea has been operating

through four local NGO partners.20

The

NGOs provide various services, depending

on their specialisation. The first NGO has

been involved with training

entrepreneurs, including interactive

training using radio, developing business

plans and training individual enterprises

and farmer’s organisations in accounting,

data processing, computer skills and

marketing and planning. Another NGO

focused on processing, marketing and

general support. The third works with

animal traction, cultivation techniques

and the agricultural calendar, crop

management, and sustainable agriculture

and environmental protection through

teaching compost-making. The fourth,

CAFODEC, has provided microfinance.

To reach as many people as possible,

CAFODEC set up 34 microfinance desks

close to possible beneficiaries. Loans

totalling more than GNF 6 billion (over

630,000 euro) were made, with a

repayment rate of over 90%. This made a

significant contribution to the financial

needs of target groups. With NGO support

to microcredit services, 12 platforms and

eight small machines have been set up in

favour of 20 farmer groups.

Tools and equipment, including 300

ploughs, 80 hoes, 80 manual excavators,

80 harrows, were introduced by an NGO

to four farmers’ groups. The tools have

increased agricultural production in the

project area (by 20%) because they save

effort and time, and they have

significantly reduced the amount of

manual labour required of women.

Producers’ income has increased by 38%.

20

AIN 5197, Trias, Work Areas 1, 2, 3 & 4

Marketing support to COPRAKAM in

Upper Guinea has helped them

participate in national fairs and to sell five

tonnes of raw shea butter and nearly a

thousand jars of shea ‘cream’ for a total

of 108 million GNF (about 10,000 euro).

These successes have resulted from a

better supply chain and incentives to

producers, together with better packaging

and higher standards of quality and

hygiene.

In Kondoya, women have a stronger place

in the household with the acquisition of

civil registration, and they demand more

rights over common goods, including

access to land, health and the education

of their children. In Kabeleya, women and

their organisations have access to credit

and training to improve the way they

cultivate – planting in lines, and weeding

promptly when necessary – to improve

their income.

Demonstration plots and model farms in

Peru (CNA)

Established in 1974, the National Agrarian

Confederation (CNA) of Peru represents

small-scale producers and has 182,000

members organised in various

associations. Almost a third of its

members are women. Cooperation

between CNA and Agriterra has been

ongoing for almost a decade, and recent

projects focused on making women and

young people more food secure and using

sustainable agriculture techniques.21

The farmer-to-farmer methodology (in

Peru known as campesino a campesino, or

CaC) is at the heart of information

transfer in this organisation, and it has

proved its worth yet again with these

projects. Farmers know the problems

faced by other farmers, so their advice is

trusted and relevant. Through workshops,

seminars and meetings, problems were

identified and helpful information spread

21

AIN 4843 and 5278, Agriterra, Work Area 1


via radio broadcasts, blogs, videos and the

publication El Vocero. Over 100

demonstration family farms were set up,

and 96 demonstration plots established.

More than 1,500 families have

incorporated sustainable agriculture and

food security practices to their farms, and

they now use organic fertilizer and soil

conservation techniques. They have

learned to grow a wider variety of crops,

which improves family nutrition and

reduces dependence on external food

supplies. Children especially have

benefited from better nutrition. Clean

kitchen facilities and toilets, which were

also part of the project, have improved

health and quality of life.

Cooperatives offer technical training to

members

Farmers’ organisations, once they have

reached a certain size and are working as

properly structured democratic

institutions, are ideally placed to provide

training to their members. They are aware

of the particular needs faced by farmers

locally, they speak the same language,

and their focus is on the betterment of

their members. Two cases below illustrate

the effectiveness of training offered in

this way.

A farmer’s story - better rice cultivation

in Vietnam (Câu Nhi Cooperative)

Mrs. Thi Hao, who lives in a village in the

North Central Coastal of Vietnam, has

been a farmer since childhood. Until

recently, she and her family lived in a

small hut and their rice fields produced

hardly enough for their own consumption.

But over the past five years their situation

has improved. Their rice yields have

quadrupled, they have started producing

rice seed and other crops, and they earn a

good income.

In Vietnam the government owns all the

land, but since 1997 people have been

able to acquire land-use rights for specific

plots, generally around 1,000m2 per

person. Most plots can only be used for

growing rice - land use is determined by

the government. Mrs. Thi Hao’s family

(her husband, two children and her

mother-in-law) has land-use rights over

three plots. They also lease 1ha from

elderly people who can no longer work

their own land. She and her husband work

on the rice fields together.

Their early agricultural activities 'were a

mere shot in the dark', and there was no

support available. But once they joined

the Câu Nhi Cooperative they were able

to take part in its various training

activities. 22

One course covered

Integrated Crop Management for rice,

offered by the cooperative with support

from Quang Tri's Cooperative Alliance &

Small and Medium Enterprise Association.

The Vietnamese slogan for Integrated

Crop Management for rice is '3 down - 3

up'. It is a simple way to remember the

policy - reduce the amount of seed,

fertilizer and pesticides and increase the

quantity, quality and income of rice.

Another advantage is less environmental

damage because of using fewer chemicals.

Old varieties of rice and traditional

cultivation methods gave yields of about

500kg per crop or 1,000kg per year (two

harvests). This was barely enough for

their own consumption, and there was

certainly none left over to sell. But with

the improved variety of rice made

available by the cooperative and better

farming skills, their yield increased to

about 2,000kg per harvest, which is more

than enough for their own needs. The

average price for 1kg of rice is 5,500 dong,

about 18 euro cents. For 2,000kg they

receive about 350 euro, giving an annual

income of 700 euro (there are two

harvests per year), which is comparable to

the salary of an office worker in Vietnam.

22



Recently the family have been producing

rice seed for a seed company. This

contract runs through the cooperative,

with assistance from the department of

agriculture and rural development. Seed

rice fetches a higher price, so the Thi Hao

family earn an extra 1,500 dong per kilo.

Ten years ago the family were poor

farmers with few possibilities and little

knowledge, but now they are successful

and active farmers who can earn a proper

living from agriculture.

Their improved farming skills and their

love for agriculture also allowed them to

make good use of a 1,500m2 piece of land

in the higher, less fertile, part of the

village. The Thi Hao family already had the

right to use of this land but did very little

with it. Now they cultivate the field and

grow crops in a diversified system.

Produce includes groundnuts, maize and

green beans, which generate a good profit.

The family income is derived roughly 80%

from rice and 20% from these other crops.

The family’s home used to be no more

than a hut, but by saving some of their

profit and taking out a loan, they started

building a proper house three years ago. It

is nearly finished and they have already

moved in.

The family has found that the services of

the Câu Nhi Cooperative have increased

and improved. They can now buy good

fertilizer, on credit if necessary, via the

coop. They also benefit from the coop’s

extensive information services and hope

to participate in more field training

activities and learn more about disease

control in rice.

A farmer’s story - training for more

efficient farming in Kenya (KENFAP)

Mary Wanjiru Kibui lives in the small town

of Rwathia, in central Kenya. She learned

a lot from the training courses for small-

scale farmers run by the Kenya National

Federation of Agricultural Producers

(KENFAP).23

Mary, 35, is married with two children - a

girl of 11 and a boy of 7. She has been a

member of KENFAP since 2004. At that

time she was not employed but she had

an interest in farming. Since joining

KENFAP her situation has changed. Her

father-in-law has allowed her use about

half an acre of land (although it will never

become her property) and, thanks to

several training courses run by KENFAP,

she has learned how to use her small plot

efficiently and provide fresh food for her

family.

She also learned that farming is a business

and has improved her entrepreneurial

skills. She planted tea and coffee bushes

that are now both fruitful and profitable.

The training courses she attended have

changed her life. Her income has

increased, and her children go to school

and will therefore have more

opportunities. A part of the income she

uses for her family, the rest she invests in

the farming business.

Mary also has a small computer shop

where people pay a small fee to use

the internet, fax machine or printer. She

says that she was able to start this

business because of the money she

earned from the farm: she was able to get

a loan to buy the computer and other

equipment. The profit from the shop is

comparable to what she earns from the

farming business.

Besides the farm and the computer shop,

Mary runs the shop where KENFAP

members sell their products and she is

secretary of the 150-strong women's

group 'Maguna Andu'. Many of these

women have benefited from KENFAP

training courses, and Mary encourages

other women to enrol.

23



A farmer’s story – advice from a private

company improves onions in Niger

(Yoreize Koira)

In some cases, advice can be brought in

via a farmers’ organisation from a private

company. The farmer’s organisation will

be well placed to choose a company that

will provide the right advice for members,

and can act as facilitator for the process,

as described in the case below.

Thanks to the advice and stem seed from

Dutch onion specialist De Groot & Slot,

onion farmers in Niger have improved

their onion production.24

Horticulturalist

Ali Adamou expanded the area under

cultivation from several square metres to

0.5ha - his crop is of excellent quality and

he makes a good profit. He is not the only

one. All 76 members of Ali's cooperative,

Yoreize Koira, have adopted the new,

more productive way of growing onions.

And about 20 other farmers in the

surrounding area now use this production

method and enjoy its benefits.

The Yoreize Koira cooperative has been

involved in the project - implemented by

the umbrella national horticultural

organisation FCMN-Niya - since 2006. Ali

Amadou, father of 11, grows onion seed

as well as various vegetables. Before the

project started, it was hard for Ali to buy

quality onion seed and he often got into

debt with the seed merchant. Sometimes

the seeds were of poor quality with low

germination rates. A high proportion of

the crop tended to bolt (run to seed early)

so these onions fetched a lower price. The

crop was rarely profitable.

24

AIN 5107, Agriterra , Work Areas 1 & 2

In 2003, Ali contacted Japanese staff who

were supporting a project in his region.

Together with several other famers, he

visited traditional onion-growing areas

(Maradi and Galmi Thaoua) to learn more.

In 2005, the Dutch onion and shallot

specialist De Groot & Slot - through

Agriterra - came into contact with FCMN-

Niya. They wanted to share their expertise

to the benefit of farmers in Niger. Since

then, the company has been helping to

improve onion cultivation and has

established commercial onion seed

production. This support now extends to

the Yoreize Koira coop.

The exchange of knowledge and of

experience inspired Mr. Ali to experiment.

He tried different cultivation methods,

and when they proved successful he

modified his traditional techniques. By

using onion sets from De Groot & Slot as

well as receiving technical support, he

produces more onion seed of higher

quality than before.

The success of onions and the cultivation

of onion seed is not limited to the

cooperative in Yoreize Koira - the

surrounding villages have adopted the

new methods too. The cooperative now

sells seed produced by its own members

throughout the whole area. Production is

checked by FCMN-Niya to guarantee its

high quality. Meanwhile technical support

on the cultivation process is provided

almost exclusively by local instructors who

have been trained by the Dutch company.


5: Practical financing of local agricultural innovation

Growth requires investment at farm level,

and one of the most pressing challenges

faced by smallholder farmers is lack of

ready cash or access to credit. They may

be ready and willing to make changes to

the way they produce crops, but unless

they can buy the fertilizer, tools or

improved seed varieties they need, they

are stuck with their old, under-productive

methods. Links between farmer’s

organisations and micro-finance

institutions provide practical financing

systems that are accessible at local level

help farmers to borrow the (often very

small amounts of) money they need.

Together with facilitating access to small

loans, helping farmers to save money is

vital to support their development from

subsistence to commercial agriculture. For

poorly educated rural dwellers, entrusting

even small sums of money to a third party

requires confidence that their hard-

earned cash will be safe – the intervention

of a farmer’s organisation can provide this

reassurance. Farmers’ organisations that

are accountable and democratic can be

instrumental in encouraging their

members to start making regular savings.

The cases below describe some of the

successes in microfinance and savings

schemes.

A farmer’s story - a small business loan in

Cameroon (Teze Women’s Group)

More than 40 women and their families of

the Teze community in Cameroon now

have higher living standards because they

joined a local project that promoted

economic activities at grassroots level.25

The women, members of local women’s

25


groups and most of them living in extreme

poverty, learned how to start their own

small businesses based on palm oil,

rubbing oil and medicated soap. Training

courses taught them how to produce,

process and market the oil and soap, and

they were able to borrow money to set up

a business from a credit system set up by

the project. One of the women who

escaped from poverty by this route is Mrs.

Ambeazieh Angela.

Mrs. Ambeazieh Angelina was born in

1956 in Teze village. She had nine children,

but five of them died because the family

lived in extreme poverty and terrible

circumstances. They couldn't afford

medicine for the children, did not have

enough to eat and their house was no

more than a shelter. She became a widow

in 1996 when her husband died - he was

very sick but they could not afford to take

him to a better equipped hospital in

Bamenda Town some 80km away. Since

2007 Mrs. Angelina has been taking care

of her two grandchildren as well, because

both of their parents (Mrs. Angelina’s son

and daughter-in-law) died too. Besides

caring for her children and grandchildren,

Mrs. Angelina worked on her farm where

she grew some vegetables. All the

remaining children except one (who is an

epileptic) helped her on the farm.

Faced with all these problems, Mrs.

Angelina joined the Teze women's group

in 2008, hoping it would help improve her

situation. In 2009 the whole group was

invited to take part in a local project to

improve the lives of women and their

families by setting up small businesses.

The women received financial support in

the form of a small investment to set the

business up. They could also borrow

money and join training courses to learn


about the production, processing, storage

and marketing of palm oil, soap or

rubbing oil. Mrs. Angelina chose the palm

oil training because she already had some

idea of palm oil production and marketing,

albeit on a small scale.

Starting out was difficult but she persisted,

grateful for the start-up funding and

training opportunities. After a while she

found her way in the palm oil chain and

now, with other women in the group, is

able to bulk-buy the raw palm fruit for a

lower price. She processes them into oil

with help of her children and other

women, and sells the oil for a good price

to many clients in her community. The

profit from her palm oil activities has

improved her family income. She can now

pay school fees for her children and

grandchildren, as well as being able to

afford nutritious food and health care for

the family.

A farmer’s story - small loans, big

improvements in Nepal (Chapagau

SACCOS)

Mrs. Rai and her family of four children

used to live in Dhankuta, a remote district

in the east of Nepal. She worked on other

people’s farms and her husband was with

the army. In the year 2000 the family

decided, for security reasons, to move to

the Kathmandu Valley. They rented a

house and a small piece of land to farm. In

2002, Mrs. Rai joined the Chapagau Saving

and Credit Cooperative Society

(SACCOS).26

The society provides loans for

micro-finance up to a maximum of NRs

100,000 (about 1,000 euro) and all the

members are women. Mrs. Rai attended

training courses run by the society on the

importance of saving, financial literacy

and financial administration.

After saving for about six months she took

a first loan to start mushroom growing.

26


She chose mushrooms because her

husband has had some training on how to

grow them. With a micro-loan of NRs

8,000 (about 80 euro) they constructed

their first plastic tunnel (a kind of green

house). In a relatively short time they had

made a profit of about Rs 40,000. Later,

with a second loan and their own savings

from the mushroom profits, they put up

four more tunnels. And with another loan

and more savings of NRs 50,000 they built

another eight sheds. In total, Mrs. Rai has

invested about NRs 300,000 in the

business over the last eight years.

Now the family has 13 tunnels and

produces about 100kg of fresh white

mushrooms per day. Mr. Rai sells the

mushrooms at the market, and the family

employs three full-time labourers. At this

stage, the business gives the family a net

annual income of about NRs 250,000

(2,500 euro).

The family is much more financially secure

now, and they have managed to build a

new life in the densely populated

Kathmandu Valley. They have bought a

piece of land of about 80m2, and both

husband and wife are fully engaged in the

business. Mrs. Rai is very happy and

proud of her business. She also has

ambitious plans, limited only by the rule

that the SACCOS does not provide a loan

higher than NRs 100,000. Mrs. Rai is

considering getting a loan somewhere

else to fulfil her expansion plans.

A farmer’s story - learning to plan ahead

in Laos (ACCU)

“I am a farmer. Every day I go to the farm.

I do not know how to manage my money.

Each day I have a small amount of money

that I can use to support my family. I am

not thinking of tomorrow and the day

after. I have never managed my finance

for life. 27

27



“A commercial bank knows how to

manage money for people, but there is no

system to transfer this knowledge to

people who do not know to write. Then it

is difficult for people to connect to the

bank. They do not know how to save

money or how to loan money. They will

never know how to manage their life.

“When the government came to see the

situation in my village, they went to talk

with the village chief, who is a person who

is very close to us and knows how to

speak our language. The village chief is

like a father to us. He gives suggestions to

improve our lives and hears the individual

problems of village people.

“The government decided to support the

village with a fund. They created a village

development fund (savings and credit

union, or SCU) where people could loan

money to manage their own lives and

improve the village. The village chief

explained the programme to us and

explained how to save and manage your

money. They explained it very slowly, step

by step, so we felt very comfortable. The

village chief created trust and used easy

words. It is not a big investment, but we

know how to put in small amounts. We

now have our own bank. We feel

independent and comfortable.

“Cooperation is a very important element.

We can share one idea, one decision. If

we have very little money, we still have a

chance to loan a small amount to the SCU

that we can help support any family

member who has an emergency or help

your family to run a small business.

“The SCU knows how to manage your

money, how much you have collected in

one day and how much you will collect in

a year. With the SCU we can plan what we

are going to do with our money and

compare our finances with our own

economic situation.

“So why did I become a member? I have a

chance to make a decision, to work in

cooperation, where we can exchange

open-minded ideas and to change my

economic situation. I can be part of a big

cooperation with millions of ideas.

“Why do I want to support the SCU and

invite new members to join? Because we

want to see the future. We want to

change our poor education and poor

economics to the same level as that of the

rich people. That is our plan.”


6: Innovative approaches, new markets

Organic production can provide

smallholder farmers with new and more

rewarding markets. Once the farmers

have learned new techniques for growing

organically, the produce has a higher

value than conventionally grown crops

and they save by not having to buy

artificial inputs. Growing interest in the

developed world for a more ecological

approach is also shown in the popularity

of agro-tourism experiences, where

tourists choose to stay on farms to see at

first hand and participate in the daily

routine of rural life. The fair trade

movement also plays a part in helping

market the produce from small farmers’

organisations. The Farmers Fighting

Poverty cases below show how these

demands from sophisticated markets can

become opportunities for small farmers in

the developing world.

A farmer’s story - eco-tea good for the

environment and a Nepali farmer’s purse

(Eco Tea Coop)

In Kolbung, a little village in the eastern

part of Nepal, lives Mrs. Ganga Rai. She

and her husband run a mixed farm of

1.8ha with the help of their four

children.28

Part of the land is used to grow

tea, an important cash crop for the family.

Until five years ago they used chemical

fertilizer and pesticides. But they

encountered problems with the pesticides

and found that the demand for organic

tea was increasing. In 2007 they joined

the Eco Tea Cooperative, which helped

them switch into organic farming.

Although it was not easy to convert to an

organic system, their production is now

stable and their organic tea fetches twice

the price of the conventional tea they

used to grow.

28


The Tea Sector Service Centre (Teasec), of

which the Eco Cooperative is member,

provided technical services on the Code of

Conduct (CoC) for organic production and

on how to manage tea plantations for

maximum yield. CoC-certified tea includes

organic tea but is not yet internationally

recognised. Teasec promotes CoC tea as

an ethical "All Fair Nepal Tea, Socially

responsible Quality tea from Himalaya".

Mrs. Ganga Rai and her husband also

grow other crops - vegetables, corn and

potatoes - mainly for their own

consumption. They also keep cows, goats

and hens. They now produce all their

crops using organic methods. Tea is the

most profitable crop so they would like to

expand the area under tea. But since it is

mainly Mrs. Rai and her husband who

work on land, they cannot expand without

employing labour, which they cannot

afford.

Mr. Rai had joined the Eco Tea

Cooperative before his wife, and he

encouraged her to become a member too.

Shortly after joining, and somewhat to her

surprise, she became an Executive

Committee member. She thought she

didn't have the time to become an active

member. She says: "I am a very busy

woman with my agricultural activities,

four children to bring up and lots of

household chores. I do not have time to

sit in all those meetings". But Mrs. Rai has

had four years’ of schooling – her literacy

skills make her a valuable board member.

The cooperative does not only provide

training and support for organic farming,

it also makes small loans. Mrs. Rai

borrowed about 130 euro, which she used

to improve her tea plantation and to buy

ginger seeds. She has recently taken a

second loan from the cooperative.


Despite her initial lack of enthusiasm

about joining the cooperative and

becoming a board member, Mrs. Rai

acknowledges that without the

cooperative she would not have a

successful organic farm. She knows she

would not be getting such a good price for

her tea (twice as much as last year). And

about her position as an executive board

member of the cooperative she says: "If at

the next election they re-elect me, I will

take up this responsibility again".

A farmer’s story - Organic mushrooms

replace fishing after the 2004 tsunami,

India (IEDS)

Mrs. Shoba is a housewife in India, whose

husband, Stephen, is a fish trader. It is a

traditional fishing family. But after the

tsunami in 2004 the fishing industry

collapsed and Mrs. Shoba started her own

business to increase the family income.

She and 32 other rural women joined the

skill development training courses being

offered by the Integrated Education and

Development Society (IEDS) to learn how

to make their own living.29

Mrs. Shoba

was chosen to participate because she

was already a member of the IEDS group

in Arokiapuram. The society is a member

of the Associated Country Women of the

World (ACWW).

Asked why she had opted for this training,

Mrs. Shoba said that she had eaten

mushroom curry in a hotel in

Kanyakumari. Having discovered that the

hotel bought its mushrooms from the

neighbouring state of Kerala rather than

locally, she spotted an opportunity to

augment their family income. Mrs.

Shoba's husband, once a famous fish

trader, could not continue his business as

profitably as before the tsunami. His

income was so meagre that he could not

provide properly for his family. Mrs.

Shoba had already learned, through

29


various activities of her self-help women’s

group, about the dangers of excessive use

of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. She

wanted to produce foodstuffs without

using hazardous chemicals and

preservatives.

The participants visited a mushroom farm

at the Government Agricultural College in

Tuticorin district. After training, Mrs.

Shoba set up a production unit with credit

of IRs 5000/- (about 75 euro) from the

project through her group. First, she sold

the harvested produce locally. Later IEDS

helped to market the mushrooms in

hotels in the Kanyakumari tourist

area. Mrs. Shoba claimed that, before

Agriterra’s project was implemented, the

hotels had bought all their mushrooms

from Kerala. Now at least some of the

mushrooms can be sourced locally.

Bringing goods from Kerala is expensive

because of the distance and because of

cross-state levies. Hoteliers paid dearly for

their imported mushrooms. But now

three major hotels buy mushrooms from

members of Mrs. Shoba's group and the

mushroom eaters, especially the

vegetarians, are happy to find it regularly

on the menu at a moderate price. Many

local families also are delighted with this

new source of protein. A new food system

is springing up around Kanyakumari,

where more and more consumers are

seeking greater control over their food.

Community-supported agriculture is

becoming widespread, offering a different

farmer-consumer relationship.

A fresh supply of organically-grown

mushrooms is attractive to consumers

who are willing to pay a better price for

them. Consumer awareness on issues

such as ‘food miles’ and hazardous

materials used for preserving and packing

is increasing. Local consumers are happy

with locally produced organic

foodstuff. For Mrs. Shoba and other

participants of the project, a fair trade

marketing system is offering an exciting


economic opportunity. However, the

success and sustainability of this type of

farming requires specific inputs and

regular supply of mushroom spore,

although a good point is that it has low

demands for fresh water. There is no

doubt, though, that the project has

changed the lifestyle of the participants.

Before they were simply housewives with

responsibilities for household duties and

child rearing. Now they are budding

entrepreneurs. They generate income,

and are improving their managerial

abilities to deal with resources,

production and marketing.

Mushrooms - a rich, nutritious, organic

and fresh food – are now available to local

people and to the larger tourist

community in hotels. The creation of a

more ethical business model is exciting.

And the project has provided a pro-poor

agricultural service from pre-farming

training to post-harvest management and

markets. More opportunities will be

available once the producers get regular

supply of spore.

Out of the 33 women who joined the

training course, 24 are involved in farming

activities and three in marketing the

produce. They sell about half of the

mushrooms in the neighbourhood and the

other half to hotels. As there is more

demand for mushrooms in the area,

expansion is a real possibility.

A farmer’s story - agro-tourism in

Vietnam (VNFU)

Tourism has been developing rapidly in

Vietnam, contributing to the national and

local economy as well as providing

opportunities for local communities to

benefit. Among tourists from western

countries, back-to-nature and agro-

tourism is a growing market. The Vietnam

National Farmers Union (VNFU) has a

long-term project to promote agro-

tourism initiatives amongst its members,

to make sure that it is not just the big

hotels and tour agencies that profit from

foreign guests.30

Women play a crucial

role in supplying labour to a wide range of

services in the tourism industry. The VNFU

hoped that women, as a vulnerable group,

would benefit particularly from agro-

tourism activities. The experience of two

widows is described below.

Mrs. Neang lives in Van Giao in the south

of Vietnam, near the Cambodian border.

She is a widow with three children. Before

she joined the project, she was extremely

poor. She grew rice, corn, sweet potatoes

and other crops to feed her family. Her

children had to work in the house and on

their small plot so they couldn't go to

school every day.

VNFU consulted community leaders to

decide who to invite for the agro-tourism

training courses, which were provided

free of charge for about 100 members by

students of the University for Tourism. A

range of topics was covered, including

weaving handicraft silk clothes, marketing,

hospitality and communication skills, and

entrepreneurial skills. Mrs. Neang joined

all the sessions and learned a lot, but

because her house is too small (she has

only room for one bed) she can't offer

accommodation to tourists.

However, Mrs. Neang turned out to be a

talented weaver. VNFU bought some

looms for its members, and promoted

handmade woven products. Mrs. Neang

sold her handicraft silk clothes first at the

local market, mainly to Cambodian people.

Thanks to the extra income she earned

she was able to buy her own wool and

other raw materials for weaving. She used

to be shy and timid but can now have a

sales conversation with Cambodian

businessmen. She is currently the

coordinator of handicraft silk clothes,

collecting them from other women and

families in her village. She then negotiates

30



with businessmen to get the best price,

and she also coordinates the purchase of

weaving materials for the women.

Her income has more than doubled and

she expects that her little business will do

better in future. Shortly after the

beginning of the project, she was already

earning enough to send her children to

school every day. Mrs. Neang can now

afford school fee easily and still has

enough money to feed her family. The

future looks bright.

Another beneficiary of the project is a 55-

year-old widow belonging to the Ta Phin

commune in Sa Pa Town, in the north of

Vietnam. Her youngest son is still living

with her, and other members of the

family live locally. As do most of the

farmers in her region, she has a mixed

farm with livestock (buffalos and chickens)

and crops (rice, corn, sweet potatoes and

some other crops). The produce is mainly

for her own food supply and for the

tourists she hopes to welcome in the near

future.

The training courses described above

taught some basic English, so she can

welcome tourists. She also learned how to

guide them and cook suitable food. She

was chosen to join an exchange visit to

agro-tourism locations in Thailand to see

how they treat tourists, particularly the

need to be helpful without hassling them.

In the town where she lives tourists are

pestered by local people trying to

convince them to buy their products or to

stay in their accommodation. Back in her

village she shared this knowledge with the

other women, and the VNFU helped her

financially to arrange twenty beds to set

up a home-stay destination for tourists.

The widow reported having learned a lot

about tourism, which had improved not

only her knowledge but also her social

status. Other village people listen to her

advice and she has become a local

counsellor. Because she only just setting

up her home-stay, there are no big

changes in her financial situation yet. But

she is very eager to learn, is open-minded

and loves the contact with foreign people.

Her income has improved a little thanks to

the first tourists who stayed with her. She

is hoping for more tourists soon.

Marketing is essential: the unique selling

points of agro-tourism facilities must be

promoted to draw more visitors, and she

hopes VNFU can play a part in this.

Albania develops agriculture with

tourism (ADAD)

Voskopoje Municipality, in a mountainous

region of Albania, has a population of only

about 2,700 living in five villages. Family

farms raise mainly sheep with a few

cattle, to produce meat and cheese. Some

cereals, potatoes and tree fruit (mainly

plums) are also grown, and the quality of

local foods is recognised throughout the

region. The area could benefit from

tourism, and a project to create a

sustainable, integrated development plan

for the area focuses on this.31

Although it

is a relatively poor area, and although

Albania is a country still in transition to a

more decentralised economy, Voskopoje

is scenically attractive and has an

interesting natural and historic heritage

that could be enjoyed by visitors. If the

infrastructure can be improved at the

same time as protecting the environment,

local people should benefit from an influx

of tourists.

So far progress has been slow, partly

because the long legacy of centralized

control means that people are not used to

taking decisions and acting together on a

regional scale. There are still too few

farmers’ associations in the area, and

access to funds is difficult. Nevertheless,

the local economy is already showing

some improvements, with incomes

increasing. The area of orchards has

doubled, as has the number of beehives,

31

AIN 5346, FERT, Work Area 1


and there has been some purchase and

management of equipment in common.

With an eye to the tourist market,

handicraft production has been increased,

and a tourist information guide produced.

A farmer’s story - fair trade honey from

Mexico (CAPIN)

Miguel Hernández Jiménez is a 43-year-

old beekeeper in Mexico. He has no land,

but he rents a plot for his bees. As a

member of the Coordinadora Mexicana

de Pequeños Productores de Comercio

Justo, he is one of more than 800

beekeepers who benefit from the export

of fair trade honey to Europe. The

organisation is supported by Agriterra and

Miel Maya Honing, a Belgian NGO based

in Mexico and Guatemala, which supports

beekeeping organisations and works in

Belgium to raise awareness about fair

trade and honey.32

The farmers’ organisation CAPIN, which is

a member of the Coordinadora Mexicana,

has links to various distribution channels

in Europe. As well as export, the

organisation also arranges exchange visits.

32


Miguel is one of the beekeepers that have

visited Germany and Belgium to see for

themselves how beekeepers work there.

Miguel now knows more about honey

production and the market and he uses

better beekeeping materials (baskets),

knows when to introduce a new queen

bee and has more knowledge about

quality and price of honey. There is great

demand from Europe for the fair trade

honey from the farmers of Coordinadora

Mexicana (CM), so increased production

should find a ready market.

Before CAPIN and the CM had made

contact with Europe, Miguel lived in

poverty. His honey production was low

and of poor quality. Moreover, he had no

knowledge of the market and sold all his

honey to agents without even weighing

it. Thanks to the education, training and

exchanges, he improved his own honey

production in both quality and

quantity. He is now an example to other

beekeepers, showing that with a good

entrepreneurial spirit and a supportive

organisation, landless farmers can get out

of poverty.


7: Sustainable agriculture

Large-scale farmers in the developed

world can turn to expensive technology

and inputs to increase yields. But poor

smallholders in remote parts of the

developing world have fewer options. In

many cases climatic patterns are

changing, populations are growing, and

there is no opportunity for farmers to buy

their way through artificial inputs into

better productivity. But an agro-ecological

approach, which uses external inputs

sparingly, offers a different route to

production. Soil fertility, structure and

water-retention can be improved by using

organic, biological and mineral resources.

Water can be applied less wastefully. No

single example can be taken as a

blueprint, and intensifying agricultural

production in a sustainable way may well

need more knowledge than conventional

approaches. Farmers and their

organisations devise local solutions by

using science together with local

knowledge, as shown in the cases below.

In addition to the examples given below,

other aspects of sustainable agriculture

have already been mentioned. Wood-

saving stoves in Uganda (see under

HODFA) are making a difference to

women’s lives – collecting firewood now

takes less time because a small bundle

lasts much longer than when burned on a

fire. And using legumes in rotations – such

as cowpeas in Burkina Faso – is another

way of improving soil fertility without

having to buy expensive fertilizer.

A seed drill for small-scale mechanization

and animal traction

Given that most seed drills are designed

for large areas and need significant

traction power to pull, small farmers

should benefit from a small seed drill

developed by a joint FERT and Afdi

project. 33

The drill is based on the

principle of a wheelbarrow (which is

easier to push than to pull) and for use

with animal traction or a small tractor. It

has only one disc and does not need much

weight to penetrate the soil. Trial plots of

direct drilling (although they did not use

this device), described above under

Morocco grows more wheat, showed that

establishment costs could be halved and

the working time dramatically reduced

compared with conventional cultivation.

In areas where rainfall may be erratic,

being able to get crops sown quickly has

clear benefits.

Composting in the Philippines (FFF)

Composting is mentioned in many cases

of success. Making compost is a simple

skill to learn and the end product is very

effective as a soil conditioner and, to a

certain extent, fertilizer.

The Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) in

the Philippines encourages the production

of organic crops and compost among its

members.34

Bebeng, Jimmy and Rey are

the lead farmer-technicians in the

formation of a bio-farming cluster. They

are producing FreeFarm Organic Fertilizer

(FFOF) for sale. Others have joined them

and members of the San Agustin Bio-

farming Cluster are optimistic about the

future of FFOF.

Bebeng made P20,000 (about 316 euro)

by selling 100 50kg bags of compost at

P200 per bag. Jimmy sold 235 sacks this

season, 185 sacks for cash and 50 payable

in kind, such as rice after the harvest (two

sacks of rice for five sacks of compost) or

in the form of groceries from a shop

owner in exchange for compost. Bebeng

33

FERT and Afdi, Work Area 1 34



says she had just bought a box of laundry

soap to last until the next season out of

the proceeds from the sale of compost.

Bebeng, Jimmy and Rey have almost

perfected the art of compost making. The

growing number of repeat customers

proves that the material is effective. Their

customers are conventional rice farmers

who use the compost by ploughing it into

the soil before planting. They have seen

the soil improve, their farm input costs

reduced and their yields maintained.

These are careful and observant

customers who usually try the compost

on a small plot before applying it to their

entire farm. A number of the customers

use the compost for areas that produce

the rice for home consumption.

To guarantee the quality of the FFOF, the

cluster is going to take charge of

overseeing production by individual

members - only those who follow the

required procedures may participate in

the Bio-farming Cluster’s marketing

activity. For taking orders, guaranteeing

quality and ensuring supply, the Bio-

farming Cluster will add a premium to

FFOF that it sells in the market.

Occidental Mindoro as a rice-producing

province is has suffered from heavy use of

chemical fertilizer and pesticides. Huge

areas are showing signs of over-use of

inorganic fertilizer – the soil is turning

whitish gray and getting harder – which

has created a market for organic fertilizer.

FreeFarm Organic Fertilizer is proving an

effective, cheap solution for

reconditioning the soil and the San

Agustin Biofarming Cluster is preparing to

seize this market opportunity. Their main

marketing strategy is to show off their

own rice and vegetable farms thriving on

the compost. The strategy is strengthened

by the testimony of their conventional

farmer customers who keep coming

back to place their compost orders to

make sure they have a ready supply for

the next cropping season.

Other members are now making and

selling FFOF. Some members help gather

the constituent materials - animal manure,

rice straw, leaves from Leucaena

leucocephala - or prepare carbonized rice

hulls. They have even found ways of

sharing the proceeds after putting the raw

materials together: one rancher allows a

group to gather cow manure from his

ranch in exchange for 20 bags of compost

per season.

The members of the San Agustin

Biofarming Cluster are optimistic about

the future of their compost, which has

now reached not only other barangays of

San Jose but nearby towns and even the

neighbouring province.

Fighting erosion with terraces in Rwanda

(IMPUYAKI)

Gicumbi District in the north of Rwanda is

densely populated and the 375,000

people of the district have to farm high on

steep slopes subject to erosion. Eight per

cent of the population is affected by HIV

and AIDs, and 275,000 live below the

poverty line. In the face of declining

productivity and soil fertility, the

IMPUYAKI coop supports its members

with their multiple farming enterprises.

The project has, promoted the use of

terraces as a way of preventing erosion.35

‘Radical terraces’ are simply giant steps

cut by hand into a steep hillside to create

a series of flat, cultivable fields. Humus-

containing topsoil is first moved aside

before the land is reshaped – by hand –

into terraces. The topsoil is then replaced

before crops are grown. Agro-forestry was

promoted, with tree seedlings used to

stabilize the terraces. Farmers were said

to be happy with the land management

services – it is too soon to see higher

productivity or incomes, although both of

these are expected to follow.

35

AIN 5064, SCC, Work Area 1


8: Rising to challenges

Some fundamental issues are very difficult

for smallholder farmers to resolve alone.

Land rights, for instance, are problematic

in many parts of the world. Without legal

title to land, farmers cannot use it is

guarantee against a bank loan, and the

“tragedy of the commons” attracts short

term behaviour that results in soil

degradation. Many farmers have had only

basic education, so illiteracy is common –

especially among women. If a person have

problems with reading and writing,

keeping good records of farm operations

and cash flow is almost impossible.

Local shortage of inputs, even where

farmers could afford to buy them, is

another persistent challenge. Fertilizer

distribution in particular is often subject

to political whim. And the uncertainties of

shocks from the wider world – political,

economic and climatic – can be much

more damaging to poor farmers who have

little to buffer them in times of difficulty.

In all these cases, though, farmer’s

organisations have their part to play in

giving strength to their individual

members. The examples below show

some of the ways they so this. Cases also

show the role of good leadership in

organisations, and the importance of

training future leaders.

A final challenge is gender. Women do

most of the work on farms in many

developing countries but they often lack

independence and their incomes lag

behind those of men. Some farmers’

organisations have been set up for

women only. In all projects supported by

Farmers Fighting Poverty, the issue of

gender is specifically addressed.

Legal advice for farmers in Madagascar

(AROPA)

An ongoing pilot project has established a

legal information and advice service for

farmers in Ihorombe and High Matsiatra

regions of Madagascar.36

Early work to

identify farmers’ most pressing needs for

information suggests that land rights are

of overwhelming importance (65% of

enquiries), following by issues of

inheritance (22%). Other questions

concerned contract law (including sales

contracts, contracts to buy land, and

housing) and judicial proceedings.

This new advice service was widely

advertised by posters, on radio and

television programmes, and in articles in

farming journals. Farmers were

encouraged to attend information

sessions at which specific legal issues

were clearly explained.

So far nearly 1,000 people have attended

31 public information sessions in 22

municipalities, and the information is

further disseminated by means of radio,

TV and print media. The Agricultural

Service Centres (CSAs) described earlier in

this report helped bring the legal advice

service into operation quickly by

gathering farmers’ requests and working

to coordinate the various meetings.

A farmer’s story - marching for land and

health, the Philippines

“My name is Regina Racasa and I live in

the Philippines. My husband, Joey, was

one of the 55 marchers who walked

1,700km from Sumilao, Bukidnon to the

Department of Agrarian Reform office in

Manila in 2007 to claim our 144ha of land.

In August 2008, we Sumilao farmers

36

Work Areas 1 & 3


finally got our certificates of

landownership. We received our 0.25ha

share of land, on which we immediately

planted the local variety of corn.37

“When we became part of the Philippine

Farmers for Food project (four

organisations in the Philippines that

received 1.4 million euro from the EU to

work on improving food production and

stabilising food prices) in May 2010, we

were able to diversify our farm from just

corn to include cassava, peanuts, fruit

trees (banana, pomelo, avocado, coconut

and others), other vegetables (eggplant,

string beans, carrots) and a herb garden.

We also received a male and a female

goat - currently pregnant.

“Because of our diversified farm, our

household expenses are much lower than

before. Instead of buying fish or canned

goods, we can use the harvest from our

farm for our daily consumption. We also

save on fertilizer costs since our goats

provide us with natural fertilizer. And we

get extra income by selling vegetables.

There are weeks when we earn up to

P160 (about 2.47 euro) for string beans

and eggplants. Our health has also

improved: we used to go to the doctor at

least once a month but now we feel

stronger and healthier, because of our

more nutritious diet. When we suffer

from minor ailments, we use herbal

medicine from our own garden.”

Training leaders for the future

(FORMAGRI)

FORMAGRI has been in existence as a

training institute for farmers in

Madagascar since 2001. Two particular

courses have relevance to farmers’

organisations, and a recent report

reviewed them and sought the opinions of

37


farmers and leaders themselves about

leadership qualities.38

Madagascar recognises agriculture as an

asset in a difficult economic context. In a

changing political environment, leaders

who will speak for Malagasy farmers are

more important than ever. The theoretical

basis of the two leader’s courses was

found to be sound, but that there were

some aspects of leadership that could not

be taught. It was therefore important to

select the correct candidates – including

women - at the outset.

Farmers leaders trained in Congo (SYDIP)

The history of Congo is characterized by

violent conflicts, and many people have

fled the country to seek refuge elsewhere.

Living standards are low, and most

Congolese people eat only one, often

unbalanced, meal a day. Laws are flouted

with impunity. Given these circumstances,

it is not surprising that Congolese

smallholder farmers are short of leaders

with a vision to develop their

organisations. This was especially true of

the Kivu region, but to a lesser extent of

the whole country.

In 2002 farmers’ organisation leaders

travelled to the Netherlands to launch

(with the support of Agriterra and LTO

Noord) a leadership training

programme.39

So far, 1,443 leaders have

been trained, of whom about 67% were

women. Maliyasasa Syalembereka, a

SYDIP coach, says that other organisations

have seen the good results and have

called for similar training. Leadership

training is now taking place not only with

other Congolese organisations but also in

neighbouring Burundi where CAPAD, a

platform of 72 cooperatives, has

embraced the training programme.

38

Network for Rural Development (January 2011)

Training of future agricultural leaders: Capitalization of

FORMAGRI experiences, Work Areas 1 & 3 39



There is a focus on training women for

leadership positions. Seven sessions, each

covering three days per month, are

interspersed with time when the

participants go back to their own

organisations to put theory into

practice. In the following session, they

exchange experiences on how they

applied their learning and the difficulties

they found. Colleagues exchange advice

on how to circumvent these

difficulties. Participants say that the

classes fit in well with the requirements

for developing their organisations, the

communities they live in and their

standard of living.

Within SYDIP, educated farmers have

taken the initiative to improve the

governance of their grassroots

organisations (agricultural centres and

local committees). They have formed

splinter groups by geographical area

called ‘Cercle de Réflexion et d'Actions’

(CERA), where they outline their

experiences and the problems they come

across. Agricultural centres around Beni,

in North Kivu, had problems with

members who did not pay back loans. The

leaders subsequently identified which

members were involved and wrote to

SYDIP headquarters for help to solve this

problem. Now all debts, including some

that had been outstanding for years, have

been repaid.

In the agricultural centre of

Munyakondomi (a village near the town

of Lubero), the leaders realised that you

cannot lead if you are economically poor.

They have developed teaching methods

on agricultural entrepreneurship so that

they can concentrate on improving their

agricultural production. This centre now

has several entrepreneurs. People who

followed the workshop on agricultural

entrepreneurship say they learned a

lot. Some have better houses, can now

pay school fees for their children and are

not worried about food security.

In other places leaders apply what they

have learned in training. Kasereka

Kaleverwa from Bulambo says that he can

contribute to the development of his

environment, and he now lectures on

networking and lobbying. He encouraged

organisations to carry out a situation

analysis of their environment, after which

they have launched several projects,

including building an exemplary health

centre. Furthermore, they have

encouraged people to lobby the council to

construct a 15km road to link them to

market. Thanks to this pressure, the

council has finally built this road and the

farmers can now transport their produce

to market more easily. The region is

renowned for its beans, which are sold in

the cities of Goma and Butembo.

Farmers’ organisation committees led by

people who have attended leadership

training are better structured than those

where the leader has not been trained. At

gatherings of FOPAC, a platform for all

organisations in North Kivu, the trained

leaders are firmer and more coherent,

and dare to express their interests to the

authorities. In short, leadership training is

good for farmers’ organisations and bears

many fruit.

Influential peasant leaders such as Paluku

Mivimba, president of FOPAC and one of

the initiators of the training, speaks out at

national and international level on behalf

of Congolese farmers. He would like to

see other important figures, from society

and from the state government, involved

in leadership training - he thinks that

government officials lack vision and tend

to obstruct farmers’ leaders initiatives.

A farmer’s story - Sophie’s farm now

thrives in Congo (UPDI)

Because of the dangerous situation

prevailing throughout the last decade in

the South Kivu region of Congo,

development in agriculture

stagnated. Now, with peace established in


many places, it is high time for the

agricultural and horticultural sector to

forge ahead. The Union Paysanne pour le

Développement Integral (UPDI), an

organisation representing the interests of

farmers in South Kivu, is ready to take

action.40

UPDI makes rural people aware

of their rights and obligations and helps

them overcome a variety of problems.

Ten years of civil war and insecurity had a

significant impact on farmers, who have

suffered from poor production facilities

and low sales. UPDI and its member

groups and associations stalled in their

development and are now trying to make

progress again. UPDI wants to set up

warehouses to store produce and farming

equipment, and to encourage the creation

of market value chains.

South Kivu has generally fertile soil with a

year-long growing season in the lowlands.

Potatoes are suitable for intensive

cultivation and there is a reasonable

demand, so there is the opportunity to

create a value chain which might serve as

a model for other products.

Potato farmers currently use little

fertilizer apart from animal manure mixed

with ash. Bert Sandee, a potato farmer

from the Netherlands, suggested during a

visit to UPDI that they should apply

manure to the fields before planting. He

also advised sprinkling urea a month after

emergence, if necessary. Sandee said that

farmers should start preventive spraying

against potato blight as soon as the leaves

in a row meet, rather than waiting for the

plants to show symptoms of blight.

One farmer is Sophie from South

Kivu. From her savings she bought 25kg of

the disease-resistant potato variety called

Mabondo. After harvesting a bean crop,

the soil was deeply dug. Sophie then

planted rows of potatoes and mixed

fertilizer into the soil. About a month after

the potato shoots emerged she spread a

40


little urea. Borrowing a knapsack sprayer

from her neighbour, she sprayed them

four times with Dithane M 45 and at the

end of the crop twice with Ridomil.

Sophie’s crop was over 300kg. She used

half to feed her own family, and sold the

other half for a good price at the

market. With the income she bought good

quality onion seed. Later her onion plot

did well and produced a plentiful

harvest. Her onions were snapped up on

the market and she made enough profit

to buy a goat, which now produces

milk. Sophie hopes to buy more goats and

so further expand her activities.

A farmer’s story - bringing women to the

fore, India (IIMF)

The social and economic gap between

men and women in India is wide. In rural

areas especially, women are still weak. In

2002, in the Indian state of Andhra

Pradesh, a dairy cooperative (IIMF) was

established to support women members

of rural self-help groups.41

IIMF aims to improve the social position

and incomes of rural women by helping

them to produce more milk. It has

invested in better nutrition, hygiene and

veterinary care for the dairy buffalo, as

well as buying more animals and setting

up a programme of artificial

insemination. The organisation wants to

ensure that its members collectively

provide quality milk to the market and get

a fair price for it. The idea is to involve

rural women in various stages of the value

chain: the production, processing and

marketing of milk.

Before Agriterra and the Rabobank

Foundation became involved in the

project, the women had already made

great strides towards a professional

organisation. The milk was collected at a

central location and distributed from

41



there. Work had been done to ensure

consistent milk quality, including cooling it

to keep it fresh. The organisation had

made agreements with manufacturers to

collect milk regularly from central

locations.

In 2006, the Dairy Working Group (DWG)

within the IIMF was set up with

responsibility for the daily management

and execution of all dairy operations. Nine

female dairy farmers formed the DWG

Board of Directors - they determined

policy and evaluated performance, while

executive staff was in charge of day-to-

day management. In 2010, the DWG

became part of the Intideepam Mahila

Dairy Producer Company (IMD).

IMD facilitates loans for farmers to buy

livestock. It also deals with vaccination,

artificial insemination and other

veterinary treatment. It also supplies

animal feed at a reasonable price. It saves

money by buying in bulk, and by using the

same transport system used for milk

collection.

The milk price - determined by IMD - is

comparable to the prices paid to other

dairy cooperatives. This creates price

competition, so that even local traders

and manufacturers have to pay a higher

price. The creation of IMD, an all-female

producer organisation, is a major

milestone. IMD has nearly 10,000 active

producers and 3,000 new members

joined. The number of villages that

participate increased from 175 in 2008 to

282 in 2009. Milk marketing orders

increased by 52% compared to 2008.

IMD and IIMF (which together hold 51%

of the shares) and private investors (who

hold 49% shares) jointly supported the

establishment of a milk processing and

marketing company, called Star

Rumenavian Ltd. Decca. The first

processing unit started in 2010.

What do the members of IIMF

think? Vajramma Botta, 37, talks about

her experiences: "When I was 14 years old

I moved with my husband (a mason) of

Nellore to the village in Maklur Nandipet

municipality, in Telangana region. When I

was a young housewife, it was difficult to

make ends meet on the meagre salary of

my husband. When I was 18 I had two

children and our financial situation was

still uncertain, I found it hard to keep their

heads above water.

“I joined a self-help group and I borrowed

a sum of Rs 5,000 to buy a buffalo. I sold

the milk to a local merchant. Yields were

low, but it made me more confident. The

first sale felt like a big success in my fight

against poverty and motivated me to

continue. The self-help group made it

possible for me to take out a loan, to

develop my dairy operations. As an active

member of the group I was even elected

president of the Maklur MACS.

“There was a time when I was about to

stop all my activities. Unfair trade by local

milk vendors meant I got a poor price for

my milk. I felt helpless because I was

constantly misled by traders, it was

financially very difficult. IMF's initiative to

establish and promote a dairy was a real

turning point. I understood immediately

the value of the shareholding. It is our

own business so we now get a good price.

“Today I own ten buffalo. I deliver milk to

the IMD and I earn Rs 15,000 (about 215

euro) per month. I rent a piece of land

where I graze my livestock. All these years,

my husband and children helped me in

my work. Now my daughter is married

and my son is studying in the city, so I

hired someone to help. I want to buy five

more buffalo: my son wants to be an

engineer. "


Annex: Inventory of evidence used in the report

1: Farms as businesses AIN

No.

FO and

country

Agri-

agency

Level of

support

Type of

Evaluation

Support

period

Type of support/ quintessence of harvested story

Several Several,

Burkina

Faso,

Benin,

Ghana,

Mali,

Niger,

Nigeria,

Togo

Agriterra Regional External 2008-

2010

Local entrepreneurship, agribusiness cluster

formation and the development of competitive value

chains (evaluation of SAADA programme 2006-09)

Competitive Agricultural Systems and Enterprises

(CASE) approach to strengthen agri-business

clusters, contribute to increased productivity and

income, sustainably managed acreage and

production, better service delivery to farmers

Several Several,

including

UNICAFES-

PR, Brazil

Trias National Internal

mid-term

evaluation

2008-

2013

Goal is to achieve socio-economic security of 60,000

small farmers in rural Parana, increase their active

participation in local economic development in

sustainable way

Several Several,

Central

America

Trias National Internal

mid-term

evaluation

2008-

2010

Services to increase production, quality,

diversification, plus development of businesses and

markets

2: Collective strength in the market AIN

No.

FO and

country

Agri-

Agency

Level of

support

Type of

Evaluation

Support

period


5163 URPA,

Benin

Afdi Sub-

national

Internal

and

external

2008-

2010

Group selling of cashew nuts – pilot to analyse problems

of nut producers, define marketing strategies, negotiate

price, etc

5138 MBADIFA,

Uganda

Trias Sub-

national

External

SCC/SIDA

2008-

2010

Raising food and income security of smallholder farm

households in Mbarara District

5260 DMI Trust,

Tanzania

Agriterra Local Story

harvesting

2009-

2010

Training in farming techniques, collective farming and

marketing techniques increased production and income

3: Better food and income security AIN

No.

FO and country Agri-

agency

Level of

support

Type of

evaluation

Support

period

Type of support/ quintessence of

harvested story

5139 HODFA, Uganda Trias Sub-

national

External

SCC/SIDA

2008-

2010

Raising food and income security of

smallholder farm households in Hoima

District

5072 Unions of

cowpea

farmers of

Pissila,

Dablo and Pensa

Burkina Faso,

Sanmatenga

Province

FERT Sub-

national

Internal

activity

report

Jul-Dec

2010

2008-

2010

Development of cowpea sector in

Sanmatenga Province

Cowpea can replace cotton where rains are

uncertain – improves soil, nutritious source

of protein etc

4: Introducing technical innovation AIN

No.

FO and

country

Agri-

Agency

Level of

support

Type of

Evaluation

Support

period

Type of support/ quintessence of harvested

story

Several Several,

Morocco

FERT Regional Internal 2007-2009 Coops and promotion of quality wheat in

Morocco

5343 Several,

Madagascar

FERT,

Afdi

District External

(in 2 parts)

2008-2010 Implementation of Agricultural Service Centres

(CSAs) at district level to bring services close to

peasant farmers, harmonise interventions in

rural areas in context of decentralisation and

weakness of private options

- FIFATA,

Madagascar

FERT Sub-

national

Internal 2007 AROPA Project: The exchange visits as a tool

for development: capitalisation of experiences

in 3 regions of Madagascar


AIN

No.

FO and

country

Agri-

Agency

Level of

support

Type of

Evaluation

Support

period


story

5197

Trias-Guinea Trias Sub-

national

External

(final

evaluation)

2008-2010 Programme of supporting local economic

development and defending local interests

4843

5278

CNA, Peru Agriterra Sub-

national

Internal 2007-2008

2009-2010

Two projects working with women and youth

in sustainable agriculture and food security

4932 Câu Nhi

Cooperative,

Vietnam

Agriterra Sub-

national

Story

harvesting

2007-2010 Training by coop improved farming skills,

contract with seed company, improved

income and living conditions

5287 KENFAP,

Kenya

Agriterra National Story

harvesting

2009-2010 Training for local groups improved farming and

entrepreneurial ability of small-scale farmer

5107 Yoreize

Koira Coop,

Niger


harvesting

2008-2010 Better seed quality and advice – techniques of

Dutch onion specialist improved production of

farmers and income

5: Practical financing of local agricultural innovation AIN

No.

FO and

country

Agri-

Agency

Level of

support

Type of

Evaluation

Support

period


5260 Teze

women's

group,

Cameroon


harvesting

2009-2010 Training and credit for starting small business –

improved income and living conditions

5513 Chapagau

SACCO,

Nepal


harvesting

2010-2011 Successful mushroom business built up thanks to

micro-loan

5052 Village

SCU, Laos

Agriterra Sib-

national

Story

harvesting

2008-2010 Thanks to SCU can save money and plan ahead

6: Innovative approaches, new markets AIN

No.

FO and

country

Agri-

Agency

Level of

support

Type of

Evaluation

Support

period


5523 Eco Tea

Coop,

Nepal

Agriterra Sub-

national

Story

harvesting

Jan-Dec

2010

Switch to organic tea production doubles the value

of the crop

5260 IEDS,

India


harvesting

2009-2010 Training increases opportunities for women to

generate income; better availability of nutritious

organic food

5002 VNFU,

Vietnam

Agriterra Sub-

national

Story

harvesting

2007-2010 Training in agro-tourism and self-development

improved income, way of living and self-esteem

5002 VNFU,

Vietnam

Agriterra Sub-

national

Story

harvesting

2007-2010 Training in agro-tourism and financial support for

beds in home stay

5346 ADAD,

Albania

FERT Local Internal 2008-2012 Implementation of sustainable, integrated

development plan for Voskopoje municipality

5296 CMPPCJ,

Mexico


harvesting

2009-2010 Thanks to exchange and information, quality and

quantity of honey production improved

7: Sustainable agriculture AIN

No.

FO and

country

Agri-

Agency

Level of

support

Type of

Evaluation

Support

Period


- Mali and

Morocco

FERT

Afdi

- Poster - Innovative seed drill for small-scale mechanisation

and animal traction

4865 FFF,

Philippines

Agriterra Sub-

national

Story

harvesting

2008-2010 Introduction of compost improved yields and sells

well

- IMPUYAKI,

Rwanda

SCC Sub-

national

Internal

mid-term

review

SCC/SIDA

2009-2011 Multi-commodity project including sustainable

management of natural resources


8: Rising to challenges AIN

No.

FO and

country

Agri-

agency

Level of

support

Type of

Evaluation

Support

period


story

- FIFATA,

Madagascar

FERT Sub-

national

Internal 2010-2011 Pilot service to provide legal advice and

information for farmers in Ihorombe and High

Matsiatra regions

5519 FFF,

Philippines


harvesting

2010-2011 March for land led to land rights; food project for

more diversified range of crops, leading to better

health and more income

- FORMAGRI,

Madagascar

FERT

Afdi

Sub-

national

Internal

evaluation?

1997-2010 Training agricultural leaders for the future

5324 SYDIP,

Democratic

Republic of

Congo


harvesting

2009-2010 Leadership training improved professionalism of

farmers’ organisations and projects at

community level

4911 UPDI, DRC Agriterra Local Story

harvesting

2007-2010 Use of good inputs improved production and

income

5277 IIMF, India Agriterra Local Story

harvesting

2009-2010 Farmers’ organisation enables loans for buying

stock, vaccination, AI, feed etc and set up

women’s dairy coop. Led to more, better quality

milk and better price

© AgriCord, June 2011

Photos: AgriCord, Agriterra & Trias

This publication has been produced as part of the AgriCord ‘Monitoring and Evaluation’

work, which is supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

AgriCord – Minderbroedersstraat 8, 3000 Leuven, Belgium – www.agricord.org – e-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 0032 (0)16 24 27 50 – fax: 0032 (0)16 24 27 55 - ondernemingsnr 480.255.611

le réseau des agri-agences | the alliance of agri-agencies | la alianza de agri-agencias

Member agri-agencies: Afdi (France), Agriterra (The Netherlands), CSA (Belgique), FERT (France),

SCC (Sweden), Trias (Belgium), UPA DI (Canada)

Associated farmers’ organisations: CAP (Portugal) -CIA (Italy), MTK (Finland), UPA (Spain)

How to contact

www.agricord.org

A Minderbroedersstraat 8,

3000 Leuven, Belgium

P 0032 (0) 16 24 27 50

F 0032 (0) 16 24 27 55

E [email protected]

© Agriterra/Michel Verdoodt

“Out of 1.3 billion of people active in farming all over the world, only 30 million (2%) work with a tractor, 350 million of them (25%) are using animal traction, and nearly 1 billion (the three quarters) work with manual tools.”

“Sur les 1 milliard 300 millions d’actifs agricoles que compte l’agriculture mondiale, une trentaine de millions seulement (soit 2% d’entre eux) disposent d’un tracteur; 350 millions environs (25%) disposent de la traction animale; et près de 1 milliard (les trois quarts) ne disposent que d’un outillage strictement manuel.”

25%

2%

73%

evidence of impact 2011 - agricord...between 2007 and 2010, more than 180 farmers’ organisations...

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